


Stigma of a Jinjuriki

by Swordood



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Naruto
Genre: Angst, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Displaced, Dissasociation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, New Pairing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Playing it by ear, Possibly OOC, Psychological Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:06:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23647423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swordood/pseuds/Swordood
Summary: Naruto has been in the Final Fantasy 7 universe many times. He's been himself. He's been Cloud. He's even been Sephiroth. Well, now he's someone else, and you'll be surprised who. Summary: The Fourth Shinobi World War is finally over. The allies are victorious, but the cost haunts them. and so they decide never again. Unfortunately, for Naruto, this means bad things are coming.
Relationships: Vincent Valentine/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	1. The Creation of Calamity

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s note: I absolutely love Naruto and Final Fantasy 7 crossovers. I also adore well made ‘Naruto is/becomes insert character a’ Fics, and I love it when those two genre’s meet together in harmony.
> 
> However, for all the ‘Naruto is Cloud Strife’ and the ‘Naruto is Sephiroth’ Fics I’ve seen, I have noticed that there seems to be a lack of Fics where Naruto is someone other than those two, if not himself, in ff7 and Naruto crossovers.
> 
> This is my attempt to fix that, and I don’t think it’s one of the obvious choices.
> 
> I’ll be honest, I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, mostly because I wasn’t sure I’d write it as well as I’d like. But with the upcoming remake, and with me seeing more updates for ff7 Naruto crossover Fics, I decided now was as good a time as any, especially before someone steals my idea right out from under me while I’m still twiddling my thumbs.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the upcoming story, and know that I write this with all the absolute respect I have for both works. (I have been playing the original game, not only to go into the remake respecting its predecessor, but also to get all the facts firsthand myself for this fic.)

——-———————————————————

The battle between titans and god-like beings came to an end.

It was unlike most wars, where the war could sometimes stretch past the day the treaties were signed. There were no firefights as armies retreated. No disagreements between their hardcore nationalists and newly installed governments. No noblemen screaming for justice or reparations.

There was only silence.

The silence seemed to stretch on as the survivors- the world’s united shinobi armies- came out of their cover, staring at the three that had brought an end to the goddess known as Kaguya.

The world held its breath in the moments that Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke sealed the women away once more.

And then the survivors breathed.

Each of them had lost someone, Some had lost everyone. Some, who had nothing going in, now found themselves with too much.

The world would rebuild, but it was hurt. And badly.

It would feel the effects of this battle for generations.

Even as the celebrations commenced, as the rebuilding began. They all knew.

They would not survive another like this. 

And for the first time in recorded history, the shinobi nations decided as one that they would do anything to prevent another war like this.  
———————-

Naruto grinned as she strolled through the paths between the many tents. Her emotions were frayed, but for now she was riding the emotional high of their victory. Sure, they had suffered losses, some of them were people she had close bonds with. But it was important that most of her precious people were alive. And while the rebuilding would take a long time, and the grief would be felt through the rest of their lives, she was confident they could move past this and prosper. Already, the bonds they all had made were healing the wounds of the past. She could see it in the way Ninja from opposite villages helped each other cope, bonded from the trials they faced together.

She smirked when she spotted a familiar bulky figure. “Yo, B-sensei!”

“Yo little nine, what’s on yo mind?” The jinjuriki of the sight tails rapped. The man’s companions, Omoi and Karui, displayed their exasperation in their own ways. Karui with a slap to her face and Omoi with nervous chewing.

Naruto laughed at their exasperation, bumping fists with her fellow jinjuriki. She smirked. “Well, I figured I’d invite the three of you to join me in finding something to eat. There’s gotta be some food somewhere around here.”

Karui shook her head. “Not that I wouldn’t mind, but don’t you have a team to be getting back to?

Naruto waved her hand dismissively. “Eh, they’re around somewhere. I can catch up with them later.”

“What if they get called in without you? What if you aren’t there to defend your Uchiha friend? And what if they make important decisions without you? What if without you to defend him, the gathered kage’s make an irreversible decision that causes another war, and we all die from it?”

Kirui smacked the back of Omoi’s head, knocking him off his rant. “Calm down Omoi! It’s not like anything is gonna happen. If the council does call in Naruto-san’s team it will just be to warn the Uchiha. It’s not like they can really punish him, what with how his assistance helped win us the war. Beside’s, they’re too busy with their debates and talks to focus on a single shinobi.”

Her tone held a bit of resentment at the mention of the Uchiha, one which Killer B picked up on.  
“Ya still holed up on that fool ya fool? Relax little lass, he’s the last of his gene pool.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kirui groaned out.

Naruto shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sure it’ll all be fine, they’ve been in talks for days now, considering that we all aren’t being ordered to claw each other’s necks out I think that’s a good thing. Now come on, Let’s go!” She marched off, her companions following.

—————

“This meeting is pointless and insulting!”

The voice that spoke was full of emotion and heated tempers. Considering the topic, it could be considered a good thing, although the person it came from could understandably leave some in shock.

Gaara was normally very cool and in control of his emotions, having mastered them with the help of Uzumaki Naruto. 

It was no wonder why he was now defending her.

“Gaara-san, even you must admit that the shinobi nations cannot survive another war of this scale. Surely you can see why we are advocating for this change?” Mei Terumi would normally be advocating against such policies, but the last few months had been trying, and her village had a nasty history with their jinjuriki.

“What is being proposed is ridiculous. Neither Uzumaki-san nor B-san have done anything to justify being treated this way. None of the jinjuriki asked to have beasts of unfathomable power shoved into their stomachs, only to be hunted down to near extinction by a terrorist group of missing nin.” Gaara grounded out passionately. He was not one to shout, and he proved that here. It was hard not to though, and it showed with his hardened voice and tense face.

“Look Gaara-san. We are not blaming the Jinjuriki for the problems of madmen.” Mei Terumi began. “But you must understand that the goal of the madmen was to capture the jinjuriki and turn them into weapons. We cannot ignore the fact that the mentally unstable of the world want to use the jinjuriki against us, and we cannot face another conflict like the one we just faced.”

“Besides. Jinjuriki bring nothing but trouble wherever they are. You don’t need to look any further than how you yourself used to be.”

Gaara narrowed his eyes at the Tsuchikage’s words. “So you’re just going to lock them up? Lock them away and steal away their own rights to happiness with them? What’s to stop the madmen of the world from busting them out? Or from them breaking themselves out? Do not forget that none of us had a choice in the demon’s being sealed within us, some of us have never even known a life without a bijuu. Do not forget that it was your decision to put them there!” Gaara finished.

“Don’t get testy with me boy!” The tsuchikage growled. “We’re only doing what’s best for the world. Jinjuriki are a hazard. They cause nothing but trouble, and they attract trouble just as much as they bring it!” He leaned forward. “It May have been our decisions that led to you being Jinjuriki, but it was up to you to control that power. And when you didn’t, we were the ones hurt. All because none of you couldn’t properly control that chakra!”

Gaara wanted to growl, he really did. “You forget that they were the ones being hunted. Their lives were in much more danger throughout the entirety of the war than all of our combined, and yet it was because of their efforts that we are still here today. Maybe you forgot that, but I haven’t!”

“I apologize Kazekage-sama, but the treaty has already been signed by all those present, yourself included.” Komohura, the Hokage’s stand in, stated. “You have been outvoted on the matter. If you do not comply with the verdict, you will face the threat of a combined force of the four other hidden ninja villages. Stand down.”

Gaara scoffed. “The contract cannot touch me if I claim neutrality in the issue and you can’t prove that I’ve broken that neutrality. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. This is how you repay your saviors? We are all lucky they didn’t leave us to save themselves earlier. I would have let them

He turned to leave, but before he left he said one last thing. “Suna will not participate in an action as inhumane as this. We already had a kage that made these choices, and I refuse to put my citizens through that again.”

_________

Gaara shifted through the items on his temporary desk. He had requested the desk to be put in his desk for the sole reason of keeping up with his paperwork, his village still needed to be run, even from this distance. Besides, the more paperwork he did now, the less he had to worry about being swamped with work the moment he returned to his village.

As it was now, he was much too upset about the current situation to even think about paperwork. His mind too preoccupied thinking up ways to warn Naruto before she was locked up to worry much about the council’s minor dispute over their property lines.

He would have already warned her, if he hadn’t already been put under a temporary tent arrest. The other kage’s shinobi had been tasked with watching him, to ensure he did not come into contact with Naruto, her friends, or even any of his own shinobi. The other kage’s were not taking chances.

He shuffled the many papers absentmindedly, thoughts occupied with his dilemma.

He was knocked out of it by the flap of his tent opening, and the clearing of a throat that announced his visitor’s presence.

Gaara looked up, his eyes meeting those of the Fourth Raikage.

“Raikage-San.” he greeted.

“Kazekage-San” A greeted back. He closed the tent flap and walked over to gaara’s desk, taking a seat in front of it.

“To what do I owe this visit to, Raikage-San?”

A seemed to hesitate for a second. Then he sighed. “Neither of us agree with the decision to lock away the jinjuriki. You made that very clear with your defense of them in the meeting.”

“I did.” Gaara agreed. “I also noticed that you didn’t say much of anything during that meeting.”

“No, I didn’t.” A shook his head. “But my silence didn’t mean I agreed with them.”

“Then what did it mean?”

“It means I have a plan, but you may not like it.”

Gaara leaned forward. “I’m listening.”

—————-

Hours later… 

Naruto happily slurped her noodles, only barely listening to the conversation happening around her. She was too caught up in enjoying her noodles. And ignoring the bitter feelings welling up inside her, the ones that blamed herself for the deaths faced and the hardships past.

It wasn’t her fault Obito forced the kyuubi to attack Konoha, or her Father sealing the beast within her. It wasn’t her fault that a terrorist group of S rank criminals from ninja villages around the world began hunting people like her down and killing them. It wasn’t her fault that a man who was long thought to be dead decided to manipulate events years after his death to bring himself back, and to attempt to throw them all into a world wide genjutsu. Nor was it her fault they used the ten tails to do so. And it certainly wasn’t her fault that the events mentioned caused the return of a woman only spoken of in legends, a scorned goddess who’s idea of world peace was dictatorship or genocide.

And yes, she knew that even if she hadn’t been the one to carry Kuruma, someone else would have. And they might not have been suited for such a role. 

Yet, even as she repeated these reassurances to herself over and over, she couldn’t help but to feel guilty. As if her own existence had brought other people unnecessary pain. She knew it was stupid to feel like that, but she just couldn’t help it. She had always been compassionate, and seeing so many people hurting, grieving…

Dead.

It tore at her heart something awful.

“Kit.”

Naruto turned away from dealing with her feelings to mentally focus on her partner. “Kurama? What’s up?”

“The Ningens around you are trying to get your attention.”

“Oh. Thanks for the heads up bud.” she refocused on the outside world, already feeling her foxy friend curling back to sleep. She turned her gaze towards B-sensei. “Did you call me?”

‘You’re fine Little Nine! My followers were just heading out. You should join our bout!”

Kurui’s eyebrow began twitching violently, and she stalked up behind the rapper. “Who're you calling followers dumbass!” her fist met the big man’s skull, and he backed off, rubbing the bump comically. “And I told you to stop rapping all the time! Use normal sentences and phrases for Kami’s sake! It would take less time for you to think of normal sentences than it would for you to think of a rap that rhymes!”

“Gomen Kurui-San! I’ll work on my rhythm ban!” Killer-B purposely stretched the A in ban to match the other in San. 

Kurui noticed this, if the bulging veins, whitened eyes and generally pissed off expression was any indication. Steam poured out of her nostrils as she chased a laughing Killer-B around Naruto and Omoi.

Naruto began laughing uproariously, while poor Omoi was left to stew in his pessimistic thoughts, muttering about the danger the two were putting themselves in.

Suddenly, A team of Anbu were standing straight in front of the group, ending any horse play that had been happening. 

Naruto turned toward the anbu captain, her eyebrow quirked. Killer-B was the one who initiated the conversation however.

“Ohayo Anbu, what can we do for you?” he paused, as if surprised, before taking out his notebook and scribbling the rhyme down.

“Uzumaki Naruto, Killer-Bee. Your presence is requested by the gathered Kage’s. If you would please follow us.” The Anbu Captain’s words were straight and to the point.

Naruto looked at Killer B, who only shrugged. The two began to follow after the Anbu.

Karui and Omoi moved to follow, only to be stopped by the Anbu Captain’s subordinates.

“Hey, what gives?”

“Only Uzumaki Naruto and Killer B’s presence is requested. No one else is to be present at the meeting.”

Kurui narrowed her eyes, eventually nodding and taking a step away. 

She watched as her sensei and fellow student (could she call Naruto that, given that the girl was also trained by Killer B? Even if only briefly?) were led away with a suspicious glint in her eye.

“You don’t think that they’re in trouble do you?” Omoi asked, watching them go as well. “Because I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“I don’t know.” And this time, Kurui could actually say she shared Omoi’s fear.

“Kurui, Omoi.”

The two shinobi startled, turning quickly and saluting. “Darui-San!”

The Raikage’s right hand man raised his finger to his lip, silencing anything they had to say. “The Raikage has a mission for you.”

_______

Naruto and Killer-B followed closely behind the Anbu, eventually reaching the large tent the Kage used for meetings. 

“The Kage are waiting for you inside.” With that, the Anbu team stepped back, allowing the two access to the tent.

Naruto and Killer-B eyed them warily. The Anbu seemed tense, as if they knew something they didn’t. Naruto felt anxiousness rise in the pit of her stomach. 

‘Naruto. Something’s off.’

‘Yeah, I sense it too.’ Narut turned away from the other shinobi. ‘The Anbu are acting shifty.’

From inside the seal, the Kyuubi shook his head. “Not just that. Look around, what do you see?”

Naruto listened, turning her head subtly to look at her surroundings.

The campsite around them was busy, with people walking too and fro, eating, working, and doing their typical day to day campsite duties. All in all, not all too different compared to the normal.

But if she looked further, she could see that everyone was tense. Some of them kept sneaking glances their way if they thought they weren’t looking. On top of that, there seemed to be no shinobi they knew. In fact both Suna and Kumo looked strangely absent, and she couldn’t recognize a single Konoha shinobi.

It was setting alarm bells off in her head, but she couldn’t tell why. Everybody here were allies, and they had won the war.

The only thing she could think of was that they were in some sort of trouble, and the only thing she could think of that they would be held accountable for was leaving the secret bunker to participate in the war.

“The Kage don't have all day.” one of the Anbu stated out loud.

Naruto turned to Killer- B, who only shrugged.

“Ok, I’m going in.” she gulped, mentally preparing for the chew out she was about to receive from the Kage. She was secretly thanking her lucky stars that Shizune and Sakura were keeping Tsunade on bed rest, and thanking Kami that Sakura had the strength to enforce the bed rest. She just couldn’t handle Tsunade’s punishment on top of being chewed out by the strongest shinobi on the planet.

Naruto lifted the flap of the Tent and stepped in, taking a deep breath in as she did so. Killer-b followed close behind.

They both stopped in confusion when they were meant with an empty tent.

“Wha..?”

‘Kit, Look out!’

She cursed and turned to flee, but it was too late. The tent gave out around both Naruto and killer-b. The walls of the tent constricted around them, halting their movements and preventing them from seeing their attackers.

‘Screw this!’ Naruto took a kunai out of her pouch and stabbed the wall of the tent, ripping a hole for herself to crawl out of.

She stood with kunai at the ready, glaring at the crowd around her. Bhind her, Killer-b already stood at the ready, back to back with what seemed to be his only ally in the area.

In front of the crowd surrounding them stood three of the four kage. Gaara was mysteriously absent, and in Tsunade’s place was one of the village elders, kohara-something. 

The Kage stood intimidatingly, the gathered shinobi around them stood with their weapons drawn, hands twitching at the ready to fight.

“What the hell was that for? You trying to kill us or something?”Naruto shouted out, brow twitching with annoyance.

Onoki took a step forward. “Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha, Killer-B of Kumo, you are under arrest for the protection of the world. You Jinjuriki are too dangerous to be left alone, this entire war proved that. And so, to protect the peace, and to ensure no one attempts to use your power against us ever again, the practice of Jinjuriki is forever banned!”

Naruto gaped, eyes narrowing. “Now wait Just a minute!”

None of them seemed to be listening. “Will you surrender yourselves peacefully? Or will we have to make you surrender the hard way?”  
Naruto took a step forward, ready to yell again, but Killer-B stopped her. She turned to snap at him, only to stop at the look on his face.

“Bro, what’s the meaning of this?” B looked incredibly hurt, his sunglasses off so he could look his adopted brother in the eye. 

A met his gaze unflinchingly. “I am sorry B, but this must be done. We cannot risk another war like this. Its too dangerous.”

‘you’re too dangerous’ went unsaid, but Naruto flinched at the message that had been lying behind the words A said. She peaked at B, whose face had turned blank.

B’s face hardened, and he put his glasses on. “Naruto.”

She gave him a questioning stare, wordlessly asking him what was on his mind. 

“I need to beat some sense into my brother. You think you can handle the others until I do so?”

Hearing B talk without rapping sounded wrong. Nevertheless, Naruto grinned. “I’ll hold them off as long as you need.”

‘Yo Kuruma, lend me some chakra would you?’

She heard him tsk in her head. ‘So demanding. I suppose, just be sure to beat their asses into next year!”

Naruto grinned, and she and B lit up with their Bijuu’s chakra. Naruto’s golden cloak was blinding, and B did a partial transformation, getting ready to speed into his brother’s range.

“Not so fast!” Mei Terumi shouted. “Sealing Division!”

Two teams of six shinobi jumped down from their hiding places, all of them simultaneously performing hand seals.

“Mukō-ka purēn No Jutsu!” (Nullification Plains jutsu)

The ground around them lit up in intricate seals, before fading to dull black ink.

Suddenly, Naruto felt her connection to Kuruma fizzle out and die. Her Bijuu cloak broke and faded away, at the same time as Killer B’s cloak.

It didn’t stop there, she felt great difficulty feeling her own chakra, and whatever she managed to draw forth was greedily sucked away by the seal under her feet.  
“What the heck? What’s going on?” Naruto growled.

One of the shinobi from the sealing division laughed triumphantly. “The Seal sucks away any chakra within its range, you can’t use your Bijuu chakra! Which means you’re on the same level as the rest of us!”

“Any chakra?” naruto tilted her head. “Hey, doesn’t that mean it’s also sucking your chakra away too?”

The guy slapped his face, and the rest of them glared at him.

“So, we’re all on the same level. Equalized by the seal under our feet.” B scoffed. “That don’t matter, cuz you’ll still be beat!”

Naruto and B squared up, eying the shinobi around them. Even with the smack talk, the two knew that the odds were not in their favor. Their best bet would be to play defensive.

With an unspoken order, the shinobi around them charged, and the two Jinjuriki began to fight for their freedom.

A battle that would last for what seemed to be hours.

___

Naruto dodged someone’s grapple, shoving them away with their foot. She then blocked someone’s Kunai with her own, grabbing the handle and throwing it straight up. The tags attached to them detonated harmlessly far above their heads, but it wouldn’t matter.

Because there were always more.

She weaved through three other shinobi, tripping them up when she had the chance. They tumbled to the ground, and she jumped back.

Her back collided with B’s, and the two of them circled, keeping each other’s blind spots well protected.

Their teamwork was strong, for two shinobi who lived in different villages. But they shared something few other shinobi in the world had in common.

They were used to the social stigmas that came with being jinjuriki. They were used to facing an entire village on their own.

This time they had each other. They would not lose.  
They couldn’t.

Naruto and Killer B breather harshly, muscles aching and bodies sweaty. What they weren’t used to was not having access to large amounts of chakra. As jinjuriki, it was almost impossible to suffer chakra depletion. And so they got used to using chakra in everything, even things like boosting speed and strength. It was difficult not having access to that.

Even so, they weren’t in chains yet. That had to count for something.

It wouldn’t last, however. They were outnumbered, with no chakra. They would run out of steam soon, and then they’d be captured. They were also surrounded, which made running away impossible.

Maybe it wasn’t hopeless, though.

Naruto could see the sealing teams in the crowd, and they were all sitting and holding a hand sign. Which meant the jutsu wasn’t a one and done thing. It had to be maintained. Which meant, if they took down those shinobi, they’d gain their chakra back. With chakra, they had a chance of escaping.

“Killer B! The sealing teams!”

“I see them ya fool! Think they’re so cool!’ B slapped the back of someone’s head so hard he collapsed into a heap.

The two of them separated, weaving through the waves of enemies to pull themselves closer to each goal. Each one they dealt with in a non lethal manner. They could not risk killing, it would only serve to stoke their ire, and would quite possible bring harm to themselves in the long run.

Finally, only one was left, and from the look of him he was straining to hold the jutsu on his own. He was sweating heavily, and his face was red with exertion.

Naruto drew an explosive tag from her pouch, slapping it onto a kunai she caught midair, and threw it at the shinobi.

The man freaked out, releasing the jutsu to jump away. The explosive went off, letting out thick black smoke. He sighed in relief, but the damage was done.

Naruto felt her chakra return to her, as well as the grumpy voice in the back of her head demanding that she leave. Now all that was left was to run.

“That’s enough dobe!”

Naruto cursed. She was too exhausted to fight him. She had to leave now. “Killer B! We need to go!”

“Right!”

The two turned to run, only to be cut off by the kage.

“Surrender!”

‘shit! ‘ Naruto turned again, willing to risk running past Sasuke rather than three Kage. she turned right into familiar red and black tomoe eyes.

“Sleep!”

Naruto blacked out.

__________

Killer B cursed when Naruto collapsed, the damn Uchiha standing over her with a superior attitude. He swiped at the Uchiha with a kunai, making him back off. B gathered the young woman in her arms, ready to bolt.

Only his escape route had been blocked. He was exhausted, surrounded, outnumbered.

He was caught.

“Surrender! This is the last time we are going to say this.” Onoki growled.

B sighed heavily, raising his hands in defeat. He would not be escaping today.  
________

“So, what now? The jinjuriki are captured. How do we keep them there? Furthermore, how do we keep people from breaking them out?” Mei questioned. They stood over the ruined tent, watching as the jinjuriki were loaded into a wagon, to be taken to a secure location.

“We’ll have to seal them like we did for those reanimated. That’s the only way to prevent them from escaping. As for keeping them there, their locations will have to be kept secret. Especially from those who will come after us.” Onoki crossed his arms.

A stepped up, breath even and face passive. Even as his thoughts nervously raced, he added his input. “They have to be separated. As easy as it would be to lock them up and be done with it, if they are locked up together it’ll make it too easy for psychos to get their hands on the bijuu. If they are seperated, it’ll make it less likely for anyone to abuse their power.”

The other kage considered his words.

“I don’t know about this. If we seperate them, it halves the shinobi forces that can be used to guard them.”

“A smaller guard and transportation force might actually be better. They’ll be able to hide better, be more discreet that way.” Mei added. She had, after all, led a resistance group.

“Very well. We’ll separate them and hide them that way. On the condition that no kage knows the location of both.”

“Sounds reasonable.” the other kage agreed.

A sighed inwardly. It would make it that much easier for team Samui to do their jobs. When the other kage were busy, he nodded to Durui, who discreetly left.

Naruto would have to hold out. Maybe B would want to tag along on her rescue. Unfortunately, A wouldn’t be able to find out. He would probably never be able to see team Samui again.

_________

Several weeks later

Zetsu eyed the hidden base with a sneer of disgust. They thought they could hide the kyuubi from him? Stupid. He would always be able to find the pieces of the Jubii, no matter where they went. 

Like a ghost, he slipped inside, sneaking through the halls and taking down anyone in his way. No one got the chance to scream.

It wasn’t long before he was the sole free soul in the entire base. Zetsu sneared. Good riddance to those ‘shinobi’.

He approached the kyuubi jinjuriki’s cell in silence.

The cell was nothing like a typical jail cell. Rather, she was locked up behind a large stone covered in seals.

It took awhile for him to break through them.

Normally, he could probably have done all this at twice the pace he currently was going. But, well…

He was dying… At least, this body was.

His real body was stuck on the moon, the same prison his mother had been stuck inside once again. 

This one was only a temporary body. Something put together by his cells that remained on the planet. Just barely enough to form this brittle, creaking form. And his cells, they didn’t like being apart.

Sure, white zutus could make numerous copies of himself, all of which had some semblance of thought, free will, and had no limit of how far they could go. But his cells didn’t work like that.

His cells all had to be together, or they would begin dying off. And while he could make temporary clones, not only did he have to transfer his own consciousness to use it, but it was an excruciating process. Because he could feel every cell as it died, a burning agony. He hated using it. The only thing that prevented the cells from dying was to merge back together as one.

But he had no other choice. His body was stuck, sealed away by that fucking brat, these cells that made this body would soon die, never to return. And this was his only shot to get revenge on this girl, who ruined his mother’s plans and centuries of his own backbreaking work.

It gave him sweet vindication to know that her own people had turned against her, just as mother’s children did. And just like mother, this brat had been sealed away.

Finally, Finally, the seals on the rock faded away, and the rock crumbled away, revealing a dark room.

In the middle, she sat. On her knees, her arms bound behind her, and wrapped head to toe in sealing paper. A tag was on her forehead, keeping her comatose inside the sealing paper. It was impossible to recognize her.

He did. She smelled of kyuubi.

He approached her, a crazed smile lighting his face. He circled the comatose girl, hand hovering over her form.

“Hello Uzumaki. We meet again!”

No answer.

“That’s alright. I didn’t come to talk. I came for revenge.”

He grabbed the girl by her chin, dragging her face closer to his. He brought his lips close to where her ear would be under the wrapping. “I’m going to kill you, Girl. I’m going to destroy you, for ruining my plans! For keeping Mother from her goals! For denying this world true peace!”

Still nothing. 

He growled, throwing her onto the ground. “But that wouldn’t be enough! No, because it's never enough! I want you to suffer, I want you to taste what it’s like. You’ve only seen a fraction of what my mother has. The betrayal, the anguish, the suffering! No, you need to suffer as my mother has!” he kicked the comatose girl in the stomach, frowning when she made no noise.

His expression suddenly lit up, and he laughed. Long, hollow, crazed. 

“Why not?”

“Why shouldn’t you suffer like her? To know you’ve been betrayed, to watch as time passes on, leaving you behind. To watch as people die, denying your gifts of wisdom and experience! To see all the fighting and death and destruction that you just! Can’t! Stop!” he kicked her to emphasize his points. He frowned when bits of his body broke off at the action.

“I must apologize, I won’t be able to watch you suffer. But rejoice, for you will have a LONG life, Uzumaki. I assure you. I’ll make sure it’s very long” he laughed long and hard.

Zetsu set to work, sacrificing parts of this body to make new zetsu cells. He didn’t have much to work with, so he took advantage of the corpses around him, eating them to replenish bits of himself. Still, he needed a donner, and it had to be something powerful for this to work.

“Congratulations, Uzumaki. You’ll be the mother of a new type of Zetsu!” he jabbed a kunai into the girl, taking out blood and tissue samples. Then he got to work.

He let the new Zetsu cells absorb the new genetic material, taking what it needed to re-make themselves. The cells would regenerate, take any organism and its traits and make them their own. It was its nature, as was it his own.

As the new Zetsu cells were at work, he began to reprogram the cells. They would not be able to take commands from him, as he would be too far away to do so. But he would make sure this organism thinks for itself. It was also important that the cells had the ability to learn. To take its mistakes and learn from them. Otherwise it would just do the same things over and over again. 

It would need to be able to adapt, to use its prey against each other. If he was to have his revenge on uzumaki, he would need to hit her where it hurt the most. And that was her comrades.

What better way than to give this Zetsu the ability to take its prey’s memories as their own. Taking their form was child’s play.

He programmed the cells to have an insatiable thirst for taking life. It would constantly seek out prey to kill. Uzumaki would have to watch her friends die over and over, until life on the planet ceased to exist. The world had rejected his mother’s peace. They didn’t deserve it. But he would force them to take his own.

He paused, another idea entering his brain. He smirked.

What better way for Uzumaki to suffer, than to not only watch it, but to never be able to escape?

He programmed the cells to protect Uzumaki, to heal her. To take whatever traits it had taken from its prey and pass them to Uzumaki as well. She would live forever knowing that she was benefiting from all the death. He cackled.

Finally, she needed to be aware of it all, so he programmed the cells to take time after each session of killing, to repair her mind. Even if she went insane, she would not escape her new destiny.

He was finished. 

He examined the final product, smirk wide.

It didn’t look anything like a zetsu, and that was fine. It was a black gooey ball shaped vaguely like a human heart, several tube like appendages coming out of the main body. These would be where the Zetsu would attach to the Uzumaki, to provide nutrients to her body. It would sooner or later bond to Uzumaki in other ways, but for now these were needed.

Zetsu laughed, ignoring his body as parts crumbled off again. This would do nicely.

Now, to serve its purpose.

Zetsu approached Uzumaki, breaking the seals on her one by one. Finally, she lay bare before him. He ignored that in favor of letting the new Zetsu attach itself to Uzumaki.

it ‘s appendages wrapped around her, attaching themselves to various parts of her body. The thickest tube speared her belly, and she let out a cry of pain.

It soothed his soul to hear her pain.

As the last appendages melted onto her arms, trapping them behind her back, and as her eyes fluttered open, screaming out in pain, his body disintegrated.

It was a pity she didn’t know he was the one to do it, but he comforted himself with the fact she would assume this was done to her by her friends.

There was no one else she knew who could.

______

It was alive.

That was its first thought.

It’s second was how annoying the big fox was, demanding it to let the girl go.

The fox would have to go. But its power interested it. The power could stay.

As it ripped the being of its power, casting the consciousness out of its host’s body and creating a new one for the fox to use, lest it just find its way back into this one, it began to think.

It needed a name for it’s host. The Host couldn’t offer it herself, since she refused to speak through her pain.

It decided to designate the host as ‘Mother’. Mother’s genes were used in it’s creation after all.

It also decided it would be a she. Mother was a she, why couldn't she be a she. She didn’t know if being a she was important or not, but she liked the thought of being a she.

Besides. She didn’t know what a He was.

She thought she rather liked thinking.

She lifted Mother’s body up with her appendages, ignoring the tiny fox as it yipped and yapped at mother’s feet. She smacked it aside with her appendage.

Now, she had this craving. A craving for blood.

She wasn’t sure what mother thought about killing, but she couldn’t really ask mother now anyway. Mother was still in pain from her birth after all.

Besides , she could just look at Mother’s memories. 

She saw it all. That pain, the suffering. Konoha, the world, it had hurt Mother. She would get revenge for Mother.

It was what she was created for, she thinks.

_____


	2. Chapter 2: Forced Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be explaining certain things about why I chose to do things the way I did. also, there will be appearances with Jenova

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I apologize once again for the long wait. My brother-in-law (practically my father) had to go to the E.R. last week-ish to get an emergency Surgery. he's fine now, but I've had to spend most of my time between helping him do things, schoolwork, and stressing about my stories to actually sit down and write.
> 
> He's still alive, and He'll be living a while yet, but he does have to go back into the hospital sometime soon-ish to get the tubes and stitches out of him. so we'll have to wait a bit for a full on recovery.
> 
> meanwhile, I've written you an extra long chapter, over 7,000 words. I know I said it was probably going to be short...
> 
> well I lied.
> 
> some people let me know in the comments that some of y reasoning was flawed, and after re-reading it, I can understand why they'd think so.
> 
> I don't necessarily believe that that was what I was going for, but that's what this chapter is for.
> 
> Now, in order to explain everything, I had to spend most of this chapter in a sort of flashback, so that took away on my Jenova-Naruto time. which is unfair, so I'll be leaving most of my Jenova-Naruto related happenings for next chapter, that way you guys can still see the awesome and terrifying power of Jenova without it being cheapened by me trying to rush through the story.
> 
> that does mean you'll have to wait a bit more for Jenova to come into full play, but I did include some Jenova still.
> 
> warning: creepy /horror themes are in this chapter along with graphic depictions of violence.
> 
> Next chapter will have even more horror/ graphic violence. in my defence, Jenova's concept is scary. I will be making full attempts to play it as true to Jenova's character as possible.
> 
> also, someone gave me a pm and let me know I was misspelling Jinchuriki. my thanks goes to that person, and I shall be fixing the spelling where I can. that does mean I did go back to chapter 1 and did some spelling corrections. otherwise, nothing else has changed.
> 
> And now for the story.
> 
> -Enjoy (Swordood)

Prologue: 10 hours before Calamity

Yamanaka Ayako was an active Chunin who served Konoha for three years now. She had only been promoted recently, for her service in the war.

She was not a front line fighter. Rather, she served in communications, relaying information to and from the battlefield. Luckily, she was not in the same bunker that Inoichi, the clan head, had been.

Her clan would survive, The former clan head's daughter, Ino, was bright, and Ayako was confident she would lead the clan the best she could.

Anyway, that isn't important to Ayako's story.

What is important is that Ayako had been deployed on a mission, though not with her Genin team.

Her team was practically gone, she and her teammate Hyuuga Yasushi were the only ones left.

Yasushi was injured during the war, having his leg blown off from an explosion tag planted by Madara himself. It was a wonder he was alive.

But for now Ayako was on a mission with another team of Chunin, a couple of Inuzuka's and a clan-less kid. They were nice and all, but they weren't her team.

They had been ordered to patrol a distance from the small outpost the untied villages had set up. It wasn't much, just a small relief station to help out the villages that had been devastated in this theater of the war.

Ayako lifted a finger to her earpiece, activating it with a push to the button. "Ayako here. What's the situation with you guys?"

There was a brief silence as she waited for a reply.

"This is Takehiko, nothing on my watch." Ayako heard a brief bark come over the line before it was cut off on the device, an echo coming from some distance to her right.

Similar answers can over her earpiece, meaning there was no change, again. Man she was bored.

"Let me know immediately if you see anything." She sighed into the talkie.

"Why should I report anything to you?" The static's voice came over her earpiece again.

"Because I was made leader you brat!" Ayako reared herself up in anger.

"You're only the leader because your so bossy!"

"No Takehiko, I'm the boss because your Sensei entrusted the mission to me while he's recovering!"

"I don't understand why he'd leave the position to you when you aren't even part of this team!"

"Because none of you are responsible enough to do it!

"I am too responsible!"

"You lost the last mission scroll, while you were reading it." A dry voice cut into their conversation.

"Oh shut up Yoichi! That was one time!"

"Actually, it happens all the time."

"Well it's not like you're any better!"

"Which is precisely the reason your Sensei entrusted me to lead you on this mission." Ayako held her hand to her chest, holding her chin high.

"She's got you there Takehiko."

The line cut then, and Ayako could hear loud cursing a distance to her right again. She laughed heartily.

Now that she thought about it, they should probably spread out just a little more. Their earpieces would let them communicate farther than shouting distance, and it would help them cover more ground. Covering more ground meant they would finish patrol faster, which meant they could head back to camp sooner. Which meant she would be able to spend more time with her Yasushi in recovery.

She blushed at the thought, mentally pushing the thoughts away. It wouldn't be good to be distracted.

She brushed her hair back, listening to the sound of the wildlife.

Wait, why was it so silent?

She tended, eying her surroundings warily. A quick burst of chakra confirmed there was no illusion. Then where did all the sound go.

Speaking of sound… "Takehashi, you notice anything?"

She waited for a response. When none came in she frowned. "Takehashi, respond."

Still nothing.

"Yoichi, Nobuo, circle back to me now. We need to check in with Takehashi, idiot isn't answering his mic."

She cursed when they didn't answer, drawing out a kunai and silently pushing through the undergrowth towards Takahashi.

She refrained from yelling, even though she knew whatever enemy was there knew she was nearby. If she shouted now, she would only reveal her position.

She heard cracking sticks behind her, and she twirled around, throwing her kunai.

It embedded in a tree directly next to Takehashi's head.

She breathed a sigh of relief, before sucking in one of anger. "What the hell Takehashi! Why aren't you answering the comm!?"

He held up one hand, which contained a broken comm. the other rubbed at his neck sheepishly. "It fell off my head and broke."

"Baka! Making me worry! This is just like you!" She turned back the way she was heading to, storming her way through the undergrowth and the direction of where her other comrades should have been.

She stumbled on something warm, and she cursed turning back to kick it.

Only to scream.

Her eyes met a bloody mess, what looked to be the torn remains of Takehashi's ninken partner, Miko. Ayako held both hands to her mouth, sickness pooling into her stomach. Takehashi would be devastated.

Her face wrinkled in confusion. Why wasn't Takehashi devastated?

"Something wrong Ayako?"

Ayako felt her spine prickle with fear. It was Takehashi's voice, but it was wrong! She couldn't place why, But it was wrong!

She stood frozen, a cold sweat breaking out over her entire skin. She could sense a giant presence looming over her from behind, even if she knew Takahashi to be a few inches shorter than herself. She was careful not to move prematurely, for she knew her next move determined if it was her last.

She bolted forward suddenly, desperately pushing past the undergrowth. She launched herself up to the treetops, hopping through the limbs in an effort to getawayGetawayGetaway!

GETAWAY!

She looked behind her, eyes frantically darting from shadow to shadow. She could see nothing.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Too soon.

She tripped as something cold and black wrapped around her foot, her ankle snapping as she collapsed hard. She cried out in pain.

Then she screeched in terror as it dragged her down into the darkness.  
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
3 weeks before Calamity: Imprisonment

Approximately 1 hour before confrontation:

Sasuke Uchiha sat on the wooden stool, staring into his cup of tea in silence. He was the picture of detached tranquility. For those who didn't know him, the real him, they would think he was calm and collected. There weren't many people still living that Sasuke could picture seeing through his facade, he could count them one one hand and have more to spare.

The truth of the matter was that his mind was a swirling mess of chaos. Thoughts slammed into his head one after the other, quenching his fears and worries only to raise new ones.

The thought that was prevalent over all the others though, was 'what do I do now?'

He had spent his whole life almost, ever since that one terrible night, striving to avenge his clan, to chase down the one responsible for the murder of his clan. He had spent every waking moment of every day since he was seven training to kill his older brother.

Finally, after years of training, years spent as the loyal lapdog of an insane Sannin, of abandoning his home and living as a rogue. Of endless nights and days gathering allies and tracking his brother down, Finally, he beat his sick brother and avenged his clan.

Only to find out he was lied to. Betrayed… not by his brother, who all this time had bore responsibility of a clan who faced genocide, but by the very village they had sworn their allegiance to. The leaders he had looked up to, at one time.

His anger at learning that the leaders of the village he was born in ordered the Uchiha's execution was indescribable. His betrayal, the hurt, the guilt he felt for his brother's wrongful death. It tore into him. So much so he agreed to join the very organization his brother had once been a part of. All in an effort to avenge Itachi, despite his brother's hope's and his own plans.

And after months of hunting down Jinchuriki, dodging patrols from multiple nations, and following that man's orders, he learned another truth.

The full truth.

Itachi wasn't the only one who was there that night, murdering his own clan. He had had help.

Help in the form of that man! The same man who was then using him for his own, twisted goals.

Sasuke once again defected, striking out on his own in search of answers. Answers he found in the form of the reanimated Hokage.

From there, he learned much of what happened that night and the time leading up to it, of what went on behind the scenes. Why the Third Hokage made the choice he did.

And Sasuke almost couldn't fault the man. Even if he still hated his decision and what it led to.

And for the first time in his life, Sasuke wanted to do something he never had before. Not since before his life began to be led by his need for vengeance, and long before he had begun to be manipulated by others through his need for it.

He wanted to do the right thing. He just didn't know how.

And so, he let the Hokage decide his course of action. Of course, he didn't let them know they were making that decision, he hid it behind an interrogation and subtle word play, of course. He was an Uchiha, he had an image to keep despite his existential crisis.

The Hokage's helped guide him to join the war, this time on the side of the allied shinobi forces. Of his old Genin team.

The war was hard, long, and grueling. He gained new powers, learned the truth of the Uchiha curse of hate, and many other things.

And so, here he sat, sipping tea in a tent on his own, feeling out of place in the company of the gathered shinobi forces and trying not to draw any attention until he decided what to do. There were many things he could do, he just didn't know what would be the right thing to do.

His tent flap opened, and Sasuke discreetly tensed, eying the intruder with red Sharingan eyes.

The Jonin at the opening tensed ever so slightly, eyes darting to look away from the Sharingan red.

Figures, no none-Uchiha dared to meet the gaze of an active Sharingan. No one but Naruto that is.

"The Kage wish to see you, Uchiha"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the lack of respect the Jonin gave him, but the man already left the tent. He stood up, abandoning his tea in favor of leaving his tent.

Outside, two full teams of Anbu and Jonin wearing the allied shinobi forces Hiate stood waiting.

"They wish for us to escort you to the conference tent, Uchiha-san." the leader of the Anbu team spoke up.

Sasuke Uchiha stepped into the large tent, eying the improvised desks that had been placed for each Kage's use during negotiations. Of the five Kage, only two were present, the red haired woman from Kiri and the old man from Iwa. Sitting at the Hokage's desk was an older woman he vaguely remembered as being one of the Third's advisors. Ko-something.

"Uchiha Sasuke. It is good to see you arriving in a timely manner."

Sasuke raised an eye at the old woman's words. "I won't say the same for you all. Where are the other Kage?"

"The Raikage and Kazekage are on their way from their respective fronts. Despite having won the war, it is imperative that we search for and eliminate any last Akatsuki member or sympathizer. On top of that, there are still several duties such as gathering bodies and searching for wounded that each Kage is responsible for, which takes time on top of the time it takes to travel between fronts. They will be here soon.

Sasuke nodded at the woman's words, ignoring the barb aimed at his past membership. "And the Hokage?"

The woman grimaced. "She is on bed rest."

Sasuke raised his brow. "Then someone she trusts will fill in for her then? When will the substitute arrive?"

"She is already here." The woman's lips sneered derisively, offended.

He smirked. "You? Who are you to the Hokage that she would trust you to handle her affairs."

"I am Utatane Koharu. I was the personal advisor of the Third Hokage for decades." Her eyes held a glint of challenge.

"Was." He turned away from her, uncaring. "'Was' is the keyword there. I did not ask who you were to the Third Hokage. I asked who you are to the Fifth." He waited for her to speak.

When she did not, he turned back to her and smirked. "I see. Then this is a selfish way for you to grab power while the Hokage is incapacitated."

Koharu snorted and stammered angrily. "This is no such thing! I am here to represent Konoha's interests in the council of Kage. I am the only person available with the necessary experience and knowledge to deal with this situation."

"If you say so."

The Mizukage sighed explosively, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If we can please start with why we summoned you here, Uchiha-san, that would be great. We did not ask you here to harass the Hokage's advisor."

Sasuke's smirk slipped, replaced with a passive expression that he eyed the Mizukage with. "why have you summoned me here?"

"Because as much as some of us wish to hold you accountable for joining the Akatsuki, the rest have decided you're power will be required while dealing with an issue we are facing." The short old man, Onoki, grumbled.

"You… need me?" Sasuke stretched out. "For?"

"We need your help in apprehending the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto." Mei answered.

"Why?"

"Because you're the only one strong enough to fight her single-handedly." Onoki grumbled.

"No, why? Why do you need me to fight her?"

"Because we will be apprehending her and the eight tails Jinchuriki." This was said by Koharu

"Again why?!" Sasuke growled, taking a threatening step forward.

"Ok, look." Mei stepped forward. "Obviously we need to give him more information if we want Uchiha-san to cooperate."

She turned to Sasuke. "Uchiha-san, these past few months have been a nightmare, you've seen what happened. We've had to fight against psychopaths, an un-dead army, a clone army, we've had to fight against people we once cherished and celebrated, and even people we've despised. We've had to fight against legends made flesh again, and a demonic goddess. Hell, we faced the end of the world and almost lost against it!" She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What does any of all that have to do with arresting the Jinchuriki?"

Mei grimaced at Sasuke's words. "What do you think their objective was?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Yes, the Akatsuki's goal was to capture the Jinchuriki for the Bijuu they held, to use their chakra to power their weapon… Jutsu, Genjutsu, whatever the hell it was. "So you're going to arrest the two most politically connected people in the entire world, who, might I remind you, are solely responsible for saving the planet, based solely on the crime that they were targeted by a group of terrorists bent on world domination!" Sasuke ranted, steaming outwardly. "And I get that each country has suffered at the hands of the Akatsuki, really I do. But you forget who the biggest victims actually were! Surely you haven't forgotten that the Jinchuriki were the ones hunted down to be slaughtered, which by the way, happened only after they had the Bijuu ripped out of their bodies! All this while the villages watched passively until it was clear there were only two of them left!"

"We haven't forgotten, Uchiha. Especially not the part where you were part of their little band!" Onoki growled.

Sasuke nearly snarled back, but Mei interrupted them both with a sharp look.

"Look, we get how it looks. But we are not arresting them because we feel they are at fault. We are taking them into protective custody."

Sasuke snorted. "A fancy title for imprisonment."

"Maybe." Onoki admitted. "But it's better than having the whole world destroyed by power hungry maniacs!"

"As the Tsuchikage says, we have seen how far the likes of Uchiha Madara and the Akatsuki will go to accomplish their goals. We don't know if there are still Akatsuki sympathizers out there, or even those with similar goals." Mei's state gained a faraway glaze. "We cannot risk that happening. Not again."

"So what, you would have me attack her? Betray her again, after everything that's happened? Undo everything she's done to make sure I can return home without being locked away?" Sasuke's projected steal into his voice, trying to convey his own unwillingness for this scheme.

"We are not asking you to attack her at all, just be there in case things go wrong. We are asking you to make the right choice. If not to save the lives of every single person in the world, then for Uzumaki's life, and to spare her the guilty conscience should her death would cause the world."

"Then why not just talk to her. Tell her your suspicions. She'll understand then, there's no need to arrest her unjustly if she can be made to understand."

"Yes." Onoki scoffed. "Just like she understood that we were holding her in a secure location for her protection, that the war we were fighting was to continue to hide her. She certainly understood when she left that hiding spot, and jeopardized the entire war effort by throwing herself headfirst at the enemy!"

Sasuke faltered. "You're just being paranoid. There are no sympathizers left. I should know, Toby admitted to being the only Akatsuki member still alive at the beginning of the war, and there were no supporters anywhere to be seen then."

The two Kage looked at each other then, communicating silently.

"What do you know that I don't" he demanded then. If they were looking at each other like that, it could only mean they knew something.

Onoki shook his head irritably. "You can tell the boy if you wish. It won't change anything."

Mei sighed, rubbing her temples at Onoki. "Look, Sasuke-san. This is a secret for a reason. We don't want word getting out and causing a panic that can be avoided. Especially because it's unconfirmed."

"Tell me."

Mei lowered her voice, mindful of the thin tent walls. "These are unconfirmed reports, but there have been sightings of a black Zetsu roaming around the cliff-sides just a few miles away from here. We've already sent teams to investigate, but so far nothings turned up."

Sasuke felt his ire rising. "If these reports are unconfirmed, then why are you so willing to throw Naruto into 'protective custody?!'"

"Because we cannot take the chance if it turns out to be true!" Onoki growled. "We have seen what happens when we allow a problem to go ignored for too long before. We will never let a problem grow like that again. Not on my watch!"

Sasuke grew quiet at this, considering. He sighed, shoulders slumping as he considered defeat. "You will be arresting her without my help anyway." His statement was not a question.

"If you help us, there will be fewer casualties that she will come to regret." Mei confirmed.

"I will think about it, but do not expect me to be your loyal lapdogs." Sasuke stormed out of the tent, thoughts heavy.

His entire life had been spent looking for vengeance. He never once had to worry about right or wrong, only what would bring him closer to fulfilling his vengeance.

He wished he had more practice now.

Was this right? Was it wrong? The only person he trusted to answer the question couldn't be asked, due to her current position. He could only hope she would forgive him if he was In the wrong.

It certainly felt wrong.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
2 weeks before calamity: liberation

Samui watched the small convoy as they traveled the dirt road. Her eyes tracked the wagon they were escorting, the tarp covering their target.

She put a finger in her ear, activating her earpiece. "Target is in sight. What are your positions?"

"Omoi here, I'm in the bush across the road from you."

"Kurui reporting in. I'll be bringing up the rear. Currently following the target from behind."

"Received. The moment the signal goes off we rush in."

"Understood."

Samui watched carefully as the shinobi led the wagon closer to her position. Her position in the trees was favorable for the mission, not so much for her body. Her leg was feeling the pins and needles even now. She dare not give herself away by shifting however.

Such thoughts distracted her from the anger she had been feeling ever since Killer-B had been abducted, along the Kyuubi Jinjuriki. She had thought, after being freed from the Benihisago, that they would all finally be able to relax without worrying about being persecuted anymore. Turns out she was wrong.

The moment the war ended, Uzumaki and Killer-B were betrayed by the paranoid Kage. The only reason she hadn't been abducted yet was because she had opted to return home with the first wave of Kumo shinobi, and then the warning A-sama had given her allowed her to hide before suffering the same fate as Killer-B.

She had faith that A-sama would work things out. But until then, she and her team would be rescuing Killer-B, and if they had the chance, Uzumaki as well.

Which explained why the three of them were hiding in the treeline of some backwater country. They had finally tracked the group of shinobi carrying their captured mentor, and would be carrying out a rescue attempt now.

Finally, the wagon reached the point of no return. Samui tensed in preparation.

The wheel sunk into the covered pit Omoi had prepared, causing the wagon to jolt to a stop as it collapsed into the dirt. The shinobi driving the cart exclaimed with surprise, falling out of their seat, while the man's team turned in surprise.

It was too easy. Almost too easy. Especially given the week spent tracking and catching up to them.

Samui's team took down their enemy before they had a chance to fight back, performing non-lethal blows to avoid any more political fallout. A-sama has enough to deal with without the other villages being able to justify their actions because Samui's team sought justice for their friend's kidnapping.

Kurui and Omoi nodded at her, and Sumui felt herself breath deeply. The first part of their mission was complete. Now they just needed to collect their friends and get out of there.

Samui approaches the wagon, breaking open the padlocked door with ease. She threw the door open, her eyes narrowing at the sight that greeted her.

The large figure was definitely Killer-B, much too muscular to be Uzumaki. But there were a few problems.

One: Killer-B was wrapped head to toe in sealing paper. It reminded her of the few undead shinobi she had seen sealed away during the war, to prevent escape and to take them out of the fight because they literally couldn't die.

The second problem: Killer-B was alive. The Tsuchikage, Mizukage, and certain forces within Konoha had completely disregarded any rights that Killer-B deserved as a Kumo shinobi, bounding him cruelly in such a way to prevent any movement and possibly sucking away their chakra to prevent escape that way. It was beyond a shred of doubt in her mind that Uzumaki was in the same condition somewhere, though Samui wouldn't be able to help her right now.

It made her blood boil, that they would treat a Kumo shinobi so inhumanely, even if they were Jinchuriki. It made her glad to be a Kumo shinobi even more, at least Kumo treated their Jinchuriki like human beings, even if not everyone liked them.

She removed a kunai, cutting away at the sealing paper with some difficulty. Soon, her friend and mentor was free of his restrictions, even if he was out cold.

She lifted the heavy man onto her back, ordering her team to move out. It was likely that reinforcements were already on their way. It would be best not to be caught at the scene of the crime.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
1 week before calamity: confrontation

Tsunade slammed her hand into the table. "I demand that Uzumaki Naruto be returned to us immediately!"

"I've told you already, you have no right to make demands of us, especially when it was your stand in who agreed with us, and your shinobi who helped bring the two of them in!" Onoki growled out in annoyance.

"That advisor, as well as the shinobi responsible, have already faced punishment. They acted outside their jurisdiction, and against my own personal wishes." Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"Tsunade-San, please understand we are not interested in starting a fight. We only wish to prevent another catastrophe like Kaguya." Mei spoke up.

"If you didn't want a fight, you would not have kidnapped our shinobi!"

"Maybe. But it was necessary."

"How so?" Tsunade growled. "What put it into your minds that it was 'necessary' to cause an international incident by kidnapping two of the biggest shinobi village's Jinchuriki? Please tell me what reason besides wild rumors you have that made you violate the treaty only days after it was signed?"

"They are not rumors." Mei shook her head. "Not anymore at least."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means we were right." Onoki grumbled our, handing her an envelope. "The sightings have been confirmed. Somehow Black Zetsu is alive. And he's looking for something."

"How is he alive though?" Shizune questioned from Tsunade's side. "I thought Naruto sealed Zetsu within the same seal Sasuke and her sealed Kaguya in."

"She did. I saw it myself." Gaara supplied.

"Then how is he here?" A asked.

"If black Zetsu is anything like his white counterpart, then it is entirely possible that black Zetsu can duplicate his cells, allowing for a unique clone that can act on its own, similar to the shadow clone." Kakashi spoke up. "All that would be needed are a few cells and maybe some genetic material, possibly from a dead body. It's likely that there were some leftover cells somewhere that were left behind when Naruto sealed the Black Zetsu with Kaguya."

"That just proves my point." Tsunade growled. "Naruto needs to be inside the village, not some unknown bunker where nobody could get to her in time should something happen!"

"If we allow the Jinchuriki to stay in any of the major villages, Zetsu will know where to look for them!"

"He always knows where to look for them! He was Akatsuki's spy for a reason!" Exploded. Shizune patted her back in a soothing gesture.

Soon, she was calm, and she began speaking as such. "Look, I don't care how panicked you were when you made the decision, I get it. Kaguya and Madara were scary offspring of bitches. What's important now is that the Jinchuriki are returned to their homes safe and soundly."

"We wouldn't be able to do that." Mei shook her head tiredly. "First off, the Raikage has already taken the Eight tailed Jinchuriki back on his own. I wouldn't even know where he went. Second, I was only in charge of securing the Hachibi Jinchuriki. The Kyuubi Jinchuriki was left to the Tsuchikage to deal with."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Obviously a group of former Kumo shinobi defected to find and rescue the Hachibi Jinjuriki on their own." A denied easily.

Tsunade turned her glare over to the older Kage, who glowered back at the entire group.

"Am I the only one out of this entire group who never wishes to see the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War come to pass ever again?! You will doom us all!"

"It's quite the opposite really." Kakashi spoke up. If you do not return our shinobi, the Jinchuriki, back to their rightful homes, we will be forced to retrieve her with force. You do not seem to understand the danger you are putting us all in by keeping our Jinchuriki away from their villages, making them vulnerable to attack!"

Mei sighed, looking to Onoki for confirmation. The Tsuchikage scowled.

He stood up from his desk abruptly. "I refuse to partake in allowing Kaguya to return again! If you want to take back the Jinchuriki, Fine! Take her, I do not care. Do not expect me to apologize should I turn out to be right!"

He turned and left the room as fast as his old body would allow, trusting in his subordinates to reveal the details to the other Kage's delegations.

Tsunade studied the hand drawn map with intensity, estimating the exact coordinates on her own map of the world.

"That's a long journey we.'planet have to make to retrieve Naruto." Shizune not her lip, looking over her mentor's shoulder. "We'll have to prepare appropriately."

Kakashi stepped forward, putting a hand on the desk next to the map. "I can set out immediately if you wish." He stared earnestly, waiting for her order.

Tsunade shook her head. "Shizune is right. We're not prepared for the terrain this journey will throw at us right now. We'll need to rush back to Konoha and restock before making such a trip."

Kakashi nodded, even if all he wanted was to rush off now. "At least this will allow us to recruit Naruto's friends to come with us."

Tsunade silently agreed. "Come, the sooner we make it back to Konoha the sooner we can get Naruto back."

And the sooner she could question the Uchiha personally. She'd been too busy fixing the Uchiha's and Koharu's mess to do so before.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
6 Days before Calamity: Konoha

Sasuke sat calmly on the bed of his holding cell, even as his mind raced. Questions, regrets, objections, all of these and more occupied his mind.

Did he make the right choice?

He didn't know.

All he did know was that he made the choice, and he could not take it back. Maybe, he could make it up to everyone, after this was all over.

His musings were interrupted once again, the loud squeal of the metal hinges door jolting him away from his thoughts.

He opened his eyes, eyes darting to the figure at the door.

He didn't get a chance to study his visitor before he was shoved into the wall, the assailants arm pressing hard into his neck.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you for your crimes Uchiha! Why should I excuse your most recent bout of treason?" Senju Tsunade, Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, growled angrily.

Sasuke gulped silently, eyes darting as he tried to justify his actions. It was difficult, especially because he had yet to justify the actions to himself.

"Well? I'm waiting!" Tsunade pressed her arm further into his neck, eyes glaring unflinchingly into his own. He was too preoccupied to consider activating his Sharingan, and it was probably a good thing. Seeing her now, she would probably kill him for any sign of defiance.

Sasuke took in as deep a breath into himself as he could, readying himself for the possible ramifications of his answer. "I was only doing what I thought was right." He choked out.

Tsunade released her grip on him just a little,

But that did little to comfort him. Her eyes were even more vivid than before, if that was even possible. "And how is betraying Naruto, the one person in this entire village who advocated for you after you abandoned it for Orochimaru, right in any way?!"

He shook his head. "I wasn't betraying her…" before she could lash out at his answer, he rushed to finish. "I was making sure she didn't do anything she would regret!"

Tsunade released Sasuke slowly, eying him with a critical eye. He rubbed his sore neck, gasping for air in as dignified manner as he could manage.

"Explain." Tsunade's voice was just as hard, if a little more calm.

Sasuke took a moment to catch his breath. "No matter what I did, the other Kage would have attempted to capture Naruto and Naruto would have fought back. If I didn't step in, there was a possibility that Naruto could have killed someone. And we both know her feelings on killing."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "What is your stance on the matter?"

Sasuke knew she was referring to the fears that people held, the ones about the possible chance of a second war like the last one. "I understand where they are coming from, even if I don't believe it fully."

"Then why did you help them?"

"I only wanted to do the right thing." He answered.

Tsunade shook her head irritably. "That is not the right thing."

Sasuke sighed. "I know. I've never been the best at figuring that out."

He could see Tsunade mentally throw her hands into the air in frustration. Instead, he got a warning finger thrust into his face.

"You only have one chance, Uchiha, that's all you're getting. If you screw up again, I will not hesitate to end you then and there. I am sending a team to retrieve Naruto, you will be on the team. Know, however, that you will be watched closely. Any unsatisfactory behavior will be reported and judged accordingly. Behave, and I may just decide some time in house arrest will be all that's required before vetting and putting you back on active duty is on the table."

She turned to leave, before stopping. She fixed him with a serious glare. "From now on, any time you make a decision, check with Hatake. He will be vetting your decisions until all concerned parties are convinced you won't screw up like this again." She stepped out of the room, unconcernedly throwing out one final comment. "The team leaves in an hour. Pack everything you'll need to survive harsh desert like terrain for an entire week."

Sasuke was finally left alone, and he took a relieved breath.

His decision had not been the right decision. But at least he had the chance to make it right.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
1 day before Calamity

The 'Naruto retrieval team' approached the cave, steps tense and senses wary. The report they had received indicated that a team of Iwa shinobi had been sent to guard Naruto, which left them out of contact with Iwa itself. They had paperwork with orders from Iwa itself to release Naruto, but they had been warned that it was possible the Iwa shinobi would attack anyway.

They had not been warned about this possibility, however.

"U-um. My Byakugan is-isn't picking anything up." Hinata stammered, even as her eyes roamed around the outside of the prison, gazing past the cliff-side and the walls within.

"I'm also getting a strange scent mixed in with blood. There was a fight here." Kiba's grisly voice piped up.

Shikamaru took the information in silently, plans and contingencies racing through his mind one after the other. "Shino? Are your bugs picking anything up."

"There are several remnants of chakra sources lingering in the air. They're old… whatever happened here happened days ago."

Shikamaru cursed, grimacing tightly. "We'll split into two groups. Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata and Shino, search the area around the prison. See if you can't pick up any trails leading to or from here. Lee, Tenten, accompany them please. They'll need backup in case they're attacked. Sasuke, Sakura, follow Choji, Ino and I. There's a chance that if Naruto's still here she'll need medical attention."

A chorus of hai's signaled each group setting out to fill out their duties. Shikamaru nodded to his own group, warily stepping into the cold shadows of the cave prison.  
______________________  
Shikamaru stepped over another half of a body, scanning through the crime scene in search of evidence. "Sakura, did you determine the cause of death?"

Sakura cleaned her hands on a rag, stepping away from the most recent body to have been examined. she shook her head in answer. "No. There simply isn't enough of the body left to be able to tell what killed them. They could have been alive when they were torn apart for all I can figure out."

"Have you determined what the muck is from?" Shikamaru gestured. Each of the bodies had a blackish goo-like substance over them, and it reeked.

It wasn't their priority, but it was strange.

Sakura shook her head. "I've taken samples, but there isn't much I can do without the sophisticated equipment back home."

Shikamaru sighed, but relented anyway. Trying to push for answers where there were none was too troublesome to work himself up about, so he would leave it at that.

"We found what looks to be the cell Shikamaru."

Shikamaru turned at Choji's voice, his childhood friend entering the room, followed closely by Ino and a grouchy Sasuke.

He held back his irritation at seeing Sasuke for now, turning his attention back to Choji. "Lead the way.

He and Sakura followed the others through the twisting corridors of the complex, avoiding even more bodies along the way. Finally, they approached a large door cut into the wall of the stone corridor, much larger than Shikamaru had first pictured would be a prison cell.

There were fewer bodies here than other rooms, allowing the group to approach without having to stumble over bodies. This did little to ease Shikamaru, however.

He was even more unsettled actually.

The barrier that was supposed to serve as a door, as a physical barrier with the purpose of keeping people out or in, was missing. Instead, in the face of the hole was crumbled dirt. Whatever used to be there was gone.

"The pile of dirt has a lot of chakra pooled over it. It's possible that it had chakra flowing through it at some point, maybe a seal of some sort."

Shikamaru took in the information Sasuke supplies, willing himself to calm. It would not do to lash out while on the mission.

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Ino snarked irritably, shoving past Sasuke as she stepped past the whole and into the room within. It would seem not everyone was willing to wait with their ire, although Shikamaru figured that would have been the case with Ino anyway.

Choji sighed, following Ino into the room without any words. Sakura followed just behind him, leaving Shikamaru alone with Sasuke.

"I probably deserved that." Sasuke sighed.

'You deserve more than that you piece of…' no, no. Best hold that in right now.

Instead of answering, Shikamaru stepped through the door into the room.

His eyes had to adjust to the dim atmosphere. There were no light fixtures in the room, the only light spilling in from the door caused the room to be dim and dreary. Shikamaru's gaze flickered around the room, taking all the details in.

The cavern was barren of anything, no furniture, not decorations. Hell, there weren't even any rock formations that could serve as a seat.

"Are we even in the right place?" Sakura obviously thought the same as him. She was looking around the cavern with confusion, no doubt trying to find any sort of the basic human requirements needed to hold a prisoner.

"Yes, we are. Although Naruto isn't here anymore." Ino pointed at a bunch of cloth in the middle of the room. Next to it, Shikamaru could see the light reflecting off of something.

He bent down to investigate.

It was metal chains that had been broken, the links of the chain bent unnaturally. Shikamaru picked up some of the cloth, running his finger along the fabric. "They held Naruto here, definitely. This is sealing paper of the same make used to seal away the reanimated shinobi. The metal chain's been bolted to the ground, like they had her chained to the floor." An electrifying bolt of anger flooded his stomach, taking hold of his heart. Shikamaru turned his gaze to Sasuke, glaring up at one of the people responsible for putting his friend in an inhuman prison.

Sasuke looked just as shocked as they were, cold realization and shame must be running through his veins. His mouth hung open, and Shikamaru could almost hear the 'I didn't know' mantra running through his head.

Shikamaru shook his head, turning his attention back to the restraints. There was no way for Naruto to have broken herself out of these had been in play. The only question was, who other than them would do it?

A dull thud and sharp help made him turn his head to Ino, who slipped on something only a few feet from him.

"Ew, gross!" Ino scooted herself away from whatever she slipped on, wiping away some sort of muck.

Shikamaru rose one of his eyebrows, even as Sakura went to examine the muck that had blended in so well to the shadows.

"Shikamaru, you need to see this."

He stood, making his way to Sakura's side. He looked to the pile of muck. "What is it?"

"You don't recognize it?" He shook his head. Sakura took a pen and poked some of the green moss upwards. "Look at it closer."

He did so, not seeing anything he recognized. Wait, that wasn't moss, it was hair. And that looked like whatever remained of a jaw… "Zetsu."

Ino looked up, wide and unblinking eyes filled with horror. "What?"

"It's Zetsu… or whatever's left of him."

Ino leaped up immediately after he said those words, shaking her arms and wiping furiously at the parts of her body covered in decaying flesh. "Ew! ew! ew! getitoff! getitoff! getitoff!"

Choji lowered the bag of chips he had been about to open and eat. "You fell into a pile of dead cannibal…"

"You don't think I know that?!" Ino shrieked irritably, still swiping her clothes. Sakura tolled her eyes, unsealing some water and an extra set of clothes and towel.

"Here, got clean yourself off real quick, I brought something you can wear until we get back home."

Ino took the clothes as quick as she could, running out of the room to find some privacy. Meanwhile, Sakura turned her attention to Shikamaru.

"So, what's the plan?"

Shikamaru stood, eying the decayed corpse with distaste. "Well, wherever Naruto is, she's not here. Obviously Zetsu died after storming the prison and freeing Naruto. Since there's no Kyuubi running around causing havoc, and since there is no Kaguya, ten tails, or Madara in sight, it's safe to say whatever plan for her Zetsu has failed… hopefully. All we can do now is track down wherever Naruto went and bring her home, if she isn't on her way already."

Sakura nodded, looking relieved at the prospect of leaving this place.

"I'll let Ino know to meet us all outside."  
___________________________________  
Shikamaru stepped outside, squinting at the bright light that hit his eyes. He walked a few steps away from the hidden opening, careful not to stumble on the loose rocks of the dusty cliff-side.

He was joined seconds later by Hinata, Shino, Akamaru and Kiba, Tenten, and Lee.

"Report."

"There are two different trails, both of them a few days old. One of them leads into the cavern, based on chakra and smell familiarity, it is logical to assume this trail belongs to Zetsu," Shino reported.

Shikamaru nodded, already knowing that.

"The other is more strange. The trail itself consists of two signatures."

"What's so strange about it?"

"Well, it's definitely Naruto." Kiba joined in. "Akamaru and I both recognize the scent. The strange thing is it's different, almost as if another scent is attached to her own. Something foul smelling."

Shikamaru's brow creased. "The other signature?"

Kiba shrugged. "I've never smelt anything like it before, I don't really know."

Shino put his hand on Kiba's shoulder, stepping forward and carrying the report once again. "Chakra signature is similar to that of a Bijuu, but the quantity of it's chakra is too small to be that of a Bijuu. Hinata and I have discussed it at length, but the signature is too old to get any clear reading on it."

"Can we track them at least?" Shikamaru put his hands into his classic thinking pose.

"We can, thankfully. It hasn't rained since the trail was made, and as long as that keeps up, and we begin tracking immediately, we should be able to track it until we catch up with Naruto."

Shikamaru nodded, turning to the rest of the team slowly emerging from the cavern. "Let's get moving then. The faster we catch up to her, the faster we can all go home."  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Mere hours before Calamity: United Village's base of operations

The blonde head of a Yamanaka walked alone through the crowded tents, a serene smile on her face. Around her, crowds walked past without a second glance. A Hyuuga with a missing leg approached her on a wheelchair, smiling sadly at her. The Yamanaka smiled back.

Meanwhile, a voice begged and pleaded, yelled and warned. The voice was in tears, her pleas for mercy unheard.

And all the while, the Yamanaka walked serenely, and when no one was looking, and unnatural grin bestirred.

And Fin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Fin
> 
> So in summary: I am not trying to make anyone out to be the bad guy here. sure, Onoki, Mai and Sasuke were dicks, but that was because they were trying to protect their people. besides, two of them were flat out panicking, and people who panic make bad decisions.
> 
> Now, the consequences of those decisions is what I'm basing this story off of. In this story, zetsu has the ability to make clones with his own dna, though it does fail after a while because it dies out quickly. the Kage don't know that, so they panic thinking Zetsu somehow escaped, and so made the decision to hide the Jinjuriki away (in a way that while inhumane, they thought would ensure their co-operation). unfortunately, it led Naruto straight into Zetsu's hand in time for him to get his revenge on everybody.
> 
> the Kage's decision was made when they just barely got out of a war, one that resulted in countless deaths, and one where they had to face a literal goddess hellbent on their extinction.
> 
> I just want to sum it up because I don't want to spend anymore time explaining. I understand it may not be very canon, but it is a fanfiction. I made it with the best intentions, and a love for both stories. in order for this story to work, however, I do need to take artistic liberties, and that means tweaking canon a bit to make both Franchises fit in the way I need for this story.
> 
> Now that that's explained, I really hope you all enjoyed. Next chapter I Promise will have more to do with Jenova/Naruto wrecking things up.
> 
> If you enjoyed the chapter, please like and comment, and feel free to share it around.
> 
> also, if any of you have any suggestions to make about who/ what should be absorbed into Jenova, please leave a comment explaining who, what ability, and why.
> 
> (example: a Yamanaka for their mind techniques, because jenova has a slight telepathic ability) or (Juugo, because he can use natural chakra to make his body into weapons, and Jeenova can shoot lazers.)
> 
> If you leave me suggestions on who/what i should use, but don't tell me why, I can't figure out why you want me to use it, and even if i do write it in anyway, i won't be able to write it in the way you were thinking, which would make it so I'm not having Jenova use the ability properly.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, and once again:Have a good Day, Stay Healthy, and all that Jazz.
> 
> Ja~ne


	3. It's learning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calamity fights against some shinobi. you all get to see her abilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, super sorry for the long update. I've got a bunch of new things going on that I'll be addressing at the end of the chapter. for now though, enjoy the chapter that took way too long to actually write.
> 
> have fun!

He raced between the thousands of burning tents, burning smoke and fiery embers stinging his eyes and throat. His feet maneuvered through the bodies of the fallen, the dead and dying shinobi littered the roads. Blood and gore Ozzie it’s way into puddles that soaked his Sanford as he ran.

Beside him, the rest of the Naruto retrieval team bore grim faces, eying the destruction with harsh determination. They had not yet found Naruto, but their mission had to wait for now, they needed to defend the campsite first.

They could hear fighting a little ways ahead, though none of them could see past the smoke and fires surrounding them. Their attackers identity was not yet confirmed, but considering the circumstances, the most likely candidates were whatever remained of the akatsuki.

He spotted Ino crouching next to a grievously wounded shinobi, helping him to sit up. The group moved to them.

“What happened? Who's attacking?” Ino questioned.

“She killed Ayako… she killed her and took her face. My Ayako…” The man’s mumbling didn’t answer her question.

“Jonin Yasushi, she asked a question.” Neji stepped forward, fixing the man with a hard gaze. 

The hyuuga’s concussed delirium continued unabated. Ino’s gaze turned deeply concerned, if he was reading the crease of her brows right.

Shikamaru stepped forward, crouching in front of the man and snapping in his face in an effort to draw the man’s attention. “Who is she?”

The man’s eyes fixed on Shikamaru’s as comprehension pooled back into them. “The Uzumaki!”

At once, each member of the retrieval team fixed each other with looks, each member portraying their shock in their own ways.

“Impossible!” Sasuke waved at their surroundings, gesturing to the gore they waded through but moments ago. “She would never do anything like this! I couldn’t even get her to kill me! And that was when I was serving the worst missing nin Konoha ever produced!”

“It was her, I swear it! She came in wearing Ayako’s face, but she peeled it off and revealed her true identity!”

Sasuke snarled, ready for rip off this man’s face himself, only to be held back by a shadow. He fixed Shikamaru with a dirty look.

Shikamaru shook his head. “Sasuke’s right, Naruto would never do this. However, I think it’s entirely possible this isn’t Naruto we’re dealing with.”

“What do you mean?” Kiba spoke up, his gaze questioning Nara's statement.

“I’m saying there was evidence that Zetsu made it all the way into Naruto’s cell. On top of that, you and Shino both mentioned that Naruto’s trail had another’s presence mixed with it.”

“Are you saying that Zetsu did something to Naruto to make her do this?” Sakura looked furious as she said it.

Shikamaru nodded slightly. “It’s possible, even if we don’t want to acknowledge it.” His eyes darted to the smoke and fires ahead of them, where the sounds of fighting seemed to originate from. “Right now, we have to protect the camp, even if that means operating under the possibility that Naruto has gone rogue, however unlikely it is.”

They hesitated to acknowledge the order, but acknowledge it they did. They charged into the smoke with weapons bared. The sounds of fighting gradually got louder and more chaotic the closer they got.

Finally, they broke out of the constant smoke and fires, stumbling at the edge of the artificial clearing created by the crater.

Hundreds of shinobi swarmed like bees, attacking a sole figure in the center. Jutsu forced the elements under the shinobi’s will, bent space and time to their bidding. Feats of strength and dexterity were demonstrated, weapons thrown and used. Chakra was used in all its forms in an effort to bring down their single foe.

All of which fell short, seemingly useless under the target’s regenerative abilities. 

Sasuke’s sharingan burned into his brain the image of her. Her twisted form, the one he was responsible for.

She hung suspended in the center of a mass of a black, tar like substance. Tentacle-like appendages twisted around and even through her, holding her above a mass shaped like a human heart. Her arms were still bound behind her, and over them more of the strange tar grew.   
Her blonde hair, usually held in pigtails, now hanging loose. Above her, the tar elongated itself into a secondary head.

Her forehead protector clung stubbornly to her head, though it had been shifted further up her head. It’s metal was badly scratched, testifying to many failed headshots.

She turned to the attacking shinobi, letting out an unearthly roar of defiance, though the scream did not come from her own mouth. Energy began pooling in front of the second head, forming a large blue ball of dense, swirling chakra. 

Sasuke cursed and turned. “Get down!” Around him, his susanoo came into existence.

Light burst into their eyes, before their ears were assaulted by a loud explosion.  
—————————————————————

Sasuke jolted awake cursing, ripping away his blankets to sit up and bending over to cup his head in his hands. His eyes, the spiraled red irises of the sharingan, darted around his room with panic.

The same memory again.

He remembered once, a long time ago, when one of the clan elders explained the intricacies of the sharingan to him and a group of young clan children. The reason the clan had the ability to copy jutsu was largely because their eyes granted them a form of eidetic memory.

It was what allowed the uchiha to remember, with perfect clarity, the sequence to jutsu and other techniques, which hand signs to use, how to position your body just so.

It was because their clan’s sharingan granted eidetic memory.

With the good, however, came the bad.

Whatever the sharingan saw, it was memorized. Sasuke could recall every jutsu his sharingan eyes ever saw with perfect clarity.

He could also, with the same perfect clarity, remember every death he’d ever witnessed with a sharingan. Every tragedy, and every generally unpleasant thing.

It was no wonder he remembered, with perfect clarity, the monster Naruto had become. The monster he’d made her become, through no fault of her own.

He may not remember every single thing said, but with his sharingan, the images were seared into his brain. Every twitched muscle, every quivered lip, he remembered. With it, his brain was able to easily reconstruct every instance of that nightmare, several months ago.

The day everything changed into a horrible nightmare. Even worse thanKaguya or Madara, specifically because this new powerful monster had no convoluted plan to gain control over the entire world or to suck them all dry of their chakra.

It just destroyed and killed, and through it all, the kindest soul he’d ever known was stuck for the ride.

Who knew what horrors she was subject to, considering all the deaths she was being forced to take.

Sasuke shook his head, gathering himself together. He dressed and left his room, walking through the halls of the secret cave base.

These last few months had not been kind. The various ninja villages had not had the chance to recover from the war with Madara and Kaguya before this latest threat introduced itself. The various populations were forced to go underground when the creature started targeting the various cities, working its way through towns and small villages before progressing onwards to the cities and ninja villages. Last he heard before going underground, Iwagakure was nearly completely destroyed, whatever survivors being spread out in various bunkers among the other villages.

The bunker he himself was currently in was built in the remains of one of Orochimaru’s old bases, specifically one of the ones used to monitor the hidden leaf village. Considering it’s location, it had been perfect to house the civilians and refugees of the Land of Fire. It was also in a good location to launch expeditions and attacks against Naruto…

He shivered. No, he had to remind himself that that monster wasn’t Naruto at all. It may have impaled her body onto its own, but that did not mean Naruto was in charge of its actions. If she were, the last few months would have been very different. 

And again, the guilt of his actions having led to this outcome threatened to overwhelm him. He needed a distraction, or he feared he’d go the way of Madara.

He changed directions, leading himself through the hallways in the direction of the nearest breakroom, the only rooms large enough to act as gathering hubs.

He swung open the door, and sure enough the room was packed to the brim with refugees and shinobi. The shinobi on duty instructed the newer refugees on protocols and safety guidelines, while those not on duty lounged around, waiting for the next hopeless mission.

The Uchiha weaved through the throng of people, looking for a familiar face, specifically one with pink hair. Sakura would know where the Hokage was.

And maybe the pinkette wouldn’t shy away from his efforts to reconnect, what with his mistake. And there was his pessimistic guilt trip coming to rear its ugly head. No wonder.

“Sasuke-Kun!” 

Something collided with the Uchiha’s back, and he nearly stumbled from the impact. His head swiveled to look at the culprit, even though he already knew the owner of that voice.

Sure enough, bright red hair and similar red eyes framed by square glasses filled his vision. Her face was slightly flushed from exertion of some kind. The familiar form of Suigetsu trailed behind her.

“Karin.” Sasuke acknowledged the girl with a scoff. “What are you doing here?”

She went off on a tangent, going on about the events of the war with Kaguya and the events that followed. He would have listened to her, but her tangent was fast paced and hard to follow. He fixed suigetsu with a stare that he seemed to understand,

The teen huffed and rolled his eyes, obviously still upset with how he left them. “We came here for the same reason as everyone else obviously, this was the closest shelter we could risk coming to with that monster out there.”

Karin turned to Suigetsu angrily, throwing her fist at his head. “Don’t interrupt me!”

“Bitch! You weren’t even making much sense!”

“I was making perfect sense! You obviously weren’t smart enough to follow along! Not like Sasuke-Kun here!”

Unwilling to admit he wasn’t following along at all, he settled on a noncommittal grunt.

“See? Sasuke-kun understands me!”

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. “Sure he does. Just like you understood his broody language made entirely of grunting.”

He cut into the argument before it could get out of hand, fixing them both with a look. He searched for the last member of team Taka.

The orange haired man came up behind them and put his hands on each of their shoulders then, holding the two snarling shinobi apart. “Sasuke-san” 

“Jūgo.” Sasuke nodded to the man. He liked him, he was much more manageable than the other two shinobi were, even when he went on his bouts of uncontrollable rages. He made up for those when he was sober with his quiet and amiable nature.

He nodded to the two others. “If you’ll excuse me, I must be seeing the Hokage.” he turned to walk away.

“So that’s it then? We helped you take down your brother and followed you into a terrorist organization, and the first thing you do when we’re all reunited is try and bail on us again?” Suigetsu scowled.

Sasuke paused mid-step, turning to fix his gaze on his team. “That’s not…:

“It kind of seems like it, Sasuke-San.” Jūgo spoke up.

The uchiha sighed. “Look…” he began. “I don’t have the best track record for these kind of things. I’m trying not to do anything else I regret…”

“So you’re saying you regret teaming up with us?”

“No!” Sasuke growled in annoyance, trying to think of how to say it properly. “I don’t want to get you all killed or something…”

“Ah, so that’s what it is.” Suigetsu smirked. “You’re worried about us!”

Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes. Sure, whatever, let that be the message the teen heard. It wasn’t like Sasuke was trying to articulate himself in a way that could be understood after spending his precious time trying to hype himself up for an emotional talk. But whatever, that was fine too.

He began walking away from them before they could annoy him any longer, only to be hypersensitive to them following him, their bickering and shuffling disturbing his brooding.

No he was not grateful for them distracting him. Not at all.

Sasuke walked through the halls once more, still looking for his old pink haired teammate. He had been sufficiently distracted, but that did not get rid of his anxiousness for a mission.

He found her a half hour later, instructing the base’s medical teams. He could tell from her appearance that she had already been working for a long while, it looked as though she had refused to take a break again. She had yet to listen to him about overexerting herself though, and he was sure he lost any right to worry about her as a teammate long ago.

“Sakura.”

She looked up at his call, brow furrowing as she walked toward him. “Sasuke…”

They stood awkwardly for a moment, the history of their team and his most recent mistakes leaving them both searching for words. 

Sasuke decided to forgo pleasantries, he never was the best at them anyway. “Do you know where the Hokage is?”

She shrugged. “Maybe in her office with the Anbu and Jonin commander? I haven’t really seen her since this morning, our last group of scouts came back in critical condition, and Tsunade-sama’s been too busy leading the war effort to spare any time for medical emergencies her students can take care of.”

He nodded, turning to leave.

“Wait…” 

He turned to look at her, his eyebrow quirked.

She was biting her lips in consideration, hesitating on something. Finally, she made up her mind. “Are you planning to take a scouting job again?”

Sasuke hummed. “The thought may have crossed my mind.” he said.

Her lips quirked into a tiny half smile, half grimace. “Be careful ok? Naruto would never forgive herself if she hurt any of us.”

He grimaced as well, before nodding and turning away.

After all the damage she had caused, the deaths she had wrought (even if she had not consciously done so) she would be devastated, more than even he could begin to imagine. Which was a little funny (in a sad way), considering he used to think she could never understand his own pain.

How the tables had turned.  
_______________________

Sasuke opened the door of the Hokage’s repurposed office. His eyes roved over the hokages form. She was busy talking to her commanders, something important based on their tones and body language.

He decided he was polite enough to wait, his eyes wandering the room itself. The walls were the same as they were when Orochimaru last used this base, although the furnishings had been replaced with something less… Orochimaru.

If he remembered right, this room used to be the one Orochimaru liked to use for painting.

Oh, spare your disbelieving groans of frustration. Even a psychopath has his down time hobbies, even if they involved painting the figures of his latest victim’s corpses. It still counted as painting.

Why was he even defending his old master’s hobbies anyway? Kami knows he hated the man. Probably some form of apprentice pride or something.

Tsunade looked up suddenly, taking notice of their sole visitor. She waved him forward, and he approached the desk.

The only reason he waited so patiently surely had no relation to the patched wall he had gone through last time, no sir.

“What brings you here, Uchiha.” She apparently had neither the time nor the patience to be amiable towards him. He was fine with that.

“I would like to request a mission.”

She stared at him as if not surprised. “Recon?”

He nodded.

“No.” she turned down to look back at the map, pointing at a marking and making some remark he was too flabbergasted to register.

“What?” his eyes narrowed in challenge, sharingan flashing a blood red.

She met his gaze evenly, fixing him with an unimpressed stare. “I said no.”

“Why not?”

She grabbed a scroll and tossed it at him. He stared at it for a second, allowing only the tiniest amounts of confusion to bleed into his expression. He unrolled it, revealing a list of names that ran from the very top all the way to the bottom. “What is it?”  
“It’s a list of the names of the shinobi sent on recon in the past month. All of them will need to be put on the memorial stone, should it still stand.”

He winced, rolling the scroll back up a little more respectfully. He took a moment to collect himself, and when he was collected fixed her with a confident smirk. “I’m not like those shinobi.”

“Of that we all have no doubt.” she said it like it was the most unimpressive thing ever said to a shinobi of any standing. “The shinobi I send with you are those shinobi. Will I send more men and women on their deaths for a useless mission?”

He frowned. “Recon missions aren't useless.”

“They are when you already know both the location and the capabilities of your target. Information, might I add, that’s been collected through the literal blood of those very shinobi on that list. The answer is no.”

Sasuke’s scowl deepened. “Then what other missions do you have available.”

Tsunade let out an exasperated groan. “Look Uchiha, I get that you want to work your problems to death. Just take a break for kami’s sake! I honestly can say I don’t really care for your wellbeing past the point of medical professionalism, but as the Hokage, you are one of our best fighters available. I’ll call you when I need something done, and not a moment sooner, understand?”

Sasuke let out an annoyed grunt, but nodded anyway and opened the door to leave.

Only to nearly be bowled over by the secretary, who was attempting to enter at the same time.

The two of them awkwardly shuffled side to side, each attempting to move past the other. Finally, sasuke let out an annoyed huff and stepped back into the room, allowing the secretary to pass.

The woman let out a meek nod, before she rushed to the Hokage’s desk and laid a scroll marked urgent out onto the woman’s desk.

“I apologize for the interruption Hokage-sama, but this scroll just arrived from our forward watchtowers!”

Tsunade grabbed the scroll from the secretary, breaking the seal as she swiveled to stand and face away from the occupants of the room. She poured over the contents of the scroll before cursing. She didn’t give any of them time to question why before she turned to address them.

“Put the base under lockdown! Seal all entrances and exits immediately, and don’t allow anybody to enter or leave this base! Send hawks to all shinobi outside to hunker down and hide as best as they can! The Individual formerly known as Uzumaki Naruto was spotted heading this way, and it is imperative she does not discover our hideout!”

“Hai Hokage-Sama!” One of the jonin moved to follow orders, only to stop when the other moved to speak.

“Hokage-Sama, there are still refugees outside the base and being escorted by many of our own shinobi, what should we tell them? They can’t run, the civilians will slow them down. And the civilians can’t hide the way shinobi can!”

Tsunade cursed again, pinching their brows. She paced the area behind her desk for a second, everyone in the room aware of just how much time was passed, and how much each second brought that thing closer.

Finally, Tsunade breathed out a heavy sigh, one filled with reluctant acceptance every Hokage learned on the job. “Tell the shinobi to scatter. There’s nothing we can do for the civilians that won’t bring destruction to the rest of us.”

“Tsunade…. sama” Sasuke interjected, adding the honorific at the glare the woman leveled at him. “I have an alternative.”

She raised her eyebrow, nodding for him to speak his mind.

Sasuke closed his eyes contemplatively, before speaking his mind. “If I were to distract the Monster using Naruto’s body, would you be able to safely and discreetly bring the refugees in?”

Tsunade looked as if she was beginning to consider his idea, scratching the bridge of her nose in thought. “Would you be able to hold her off long enough for us to bring in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, inside the hideout through those small doors? I know you could go toe to toe with Naruto before, but this is completely different.”

He shook his head. “I may not have to hold it off all that long, just draw it’s attention and direct it away from here.”

Tsunade’s eyes lit up in understanding, and she started to pace again. She nodded to herself. “If you are positive you can, direct her away from the hideout. Let me know what you’ll need and I’ll assign you a team as capable for this job as can be acquired.”

He shook his head. “No need, I’ve already got a team in mind for the mission.”

With that, he turned to ready himself for the upcoming fight.

——————

Naruto floated in darkness, the light reaching her nauseating. She felt sick, violated even. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt normal.

The last thing she did remember she didn’t want to. So much death and pain, it hurt to watch.

Especially because she was the one causing it.

It’s not like she was in control of her actions. She was desperately trying to stop, stop the violence, the attacks, Herself.

The thing controlling her.

She couldn’t stop it. She didn’t even know what it was. But it knew her.

That was worse, because it made everything so much more… personal.

“D̶o̴n̵’̴t̷ ̸w̷o̵r̷r̴y̷ ̴m̷o̷t̶h̸e̷r̴.̷ ̴T̷h̵e̵y̵ ̴w̶o̸n̷’̸t̴ ̸h̴u̵r̸t̶ ̷y̷o̷u̶ ̶e̴v̵e̷r̸ ̸a̶g̵a̸i̷n̸”

Naruto began struggling even more, desperately trying to escape. It didn’t work.

She couldn’t even close her eyes as the thing began slaughtering the newest batch of patrolling shinobi.

—————————————————————

Sasuke stood waiting, team Taka behind him. Reports said The monster controlling Naruto’s body was last seen in this direction, so Sasuke had led the team several clicks ahead of the refugees. As long as they could lead Zetsu’s monster away from the refugees, Team Taka could begin their retreat at any point.

From there, they’d have to hole down and wait for Zetsu’s monster to move away from them. It would be risky, but they couldn’t go back to the bunker with the monster in their tail. That would defeat the purpose of trying to keep the civilians safe.

Sasuke’s jaw tensed as he waited, the anticipation making his nerves steadily climb. Of course, he had long since learned to mask his feelings, none of his nerves showed on his face.

The pacing and fretting of his fri… team behind him, however, showed their nerves.

A few moments passed, and Suigetsu walked up behind him. 

“So, not to nag you Sasuke, but don’t you think the boogeymonster should have been here by now?”

Karin bristled behind them both. “The monster will get here when it gets here! Do you want to speed up our deaths?!”

“That’s not what I was trying to say bitch!” Suigetsu growled.

“Then what were you?!”

Suigetsu eyed the trees. “I’m saying I have a bad feeling. Didn’t the scouts report that Uzumaki was near? We should have run into her by now.”

Sasuke grunted to acknowledge Suigetsu, eying the treeline himself. It was a valid point Suigetsu raised, and now that he thought about it, Sasuke felt a pit growing in his stomach at the lack of contact. While Naruto had moments she was clever, she was very brash and straightforward. If this was Naruto he was facing, they would have already been engaging her now.

This wasn’t Naruto though, and everyone around him had trouble remembering that fact. Whatever was controlling her had a tactical mind, past the beast like rage it openly displayed. There had to be a reason that so many bunkers fell to it’s might. Considering how many lives rode on this, Sasuke thought hard on those reasons.

The first few could be perhaps excused as luck, or the lack of it depending on how you viewed it. As the security of the bunkers grew, and their understanding of the thing controlling Naruto’s body with it, that excuse grew less and less valid. Obviously Nruto would have little trouble fighting against many shinobi, she was one of the biggest powerhouses on the planet. That power was most likely completely transferred over to the beast controlling naruto’s body. 

But what was confusing wasn’t how she beat them. It was how she found them.

The first locations attacked had been out in the open, totally unprepared for the threat Naruto now possessed. The bunkers shortly after were mostly just holes in the ground.

After the first few, the shinobi alliance had learned to better hide their bases, using anything from genjutsu to seals to hide their presence. With each failed hidden base, more skilled genjutsu and seal masters created even more elaborate illusions and seals. It became difficult for even powerful dojutsu such as the byakugan or the sharingan to spot them.

Even so, it seemed to have no effect. Once Naruto got close, the beast controlling her somehow knew where to look, or who to target, to reveal the hidden bunkers concealing the civilians within. 

Sasuke had never really heard of any bloodline limits that gave a person such sensory prowess.

Something in the back of his head jiggled at the thought. He had heard of a technique that provided it, however. When he heard Orochimaru gloating about his sage arts to an uninterested young Sasuke when the man tried getting him to sign the snake contract. He wasn’t sure how that would translate over…

Sasuke cursed and spun around, sprinting back in the direction of the bunker. Behind him, he heard the rest of his team spin to follow him, their unsure steps showing their confusion. He ignored it.

He was an Idiot! All this time he’d been insisting the beast controlling naruto was not the Uzumaki, even if he’d known inside that Naruto was still in there, however deep. Even those around him, the stubborn ones at least, who had insisted the monster was Naruto, forgot the most important thing about her in this case.

“What’s wrong Sasuke?! Why are we going back?” Karin called.

“It’s Naruto!” he answered shortly.

“What about her?”  
“She’s a Sage!”

He heard the inhilations of realization behind him, as well as the edge of panic as they moved faster next to him. 

“Is that how…?” Juugo asked.

“Yeah.” sasuke nodded. “She can sense the chakra, or the lack of it, in the atmosphere around her. It’s how Naruto was able to find the location of pain when no one else could.”

“So all those bunkers… they don’t stand a chance in hiding?” Karin asked.

Sasuke nodded. “Hiding’s useless against a sage. We’ll have to fight.” he could only hope he intercepted Naruto before she got to the many innocent civilians in the bunker and outside it..

The four of them burst through the forest roof, landing at the edge of the small clearing where the entrance of the bunker was hewn into a nearby cliffside. Around them, hundreds of civilians still waited their turn to enter the hidden bunker.

Sasuke’s gaze darted among each and every one of them, sharingan spinning in his eyes. He was looking for something.

His pink haired teammate saw him as he landed, making her way toward him in a huff. 

“What are you doing here Sasuke? Tsunade-sama said the success of us bringing in these refugees rode on you distracting Naruto!”

“It won’t work.”

Sakura hissed. “What do you mean it won’t work? You’re the one who suggested it!”

“She’s a sage.”

Sasuke ignored her as she realized exactly what that meant, his gaze meeting a small child, her chakra spinning violently. He grimaced.

She was here.

“Get back!” he yelled, sprinting forward and pulling civilians away from the small child. The muttering around him turned to confused shouting. From the corner of his eye, he saw two shinobi approach him, possibly in an effort to stop him from creating a “ruckus”. None of them knew the danger they were in.

“What’s going on?” a woman asked, clutching the very dangerous child by the shoulders. Sasuke grimaced.

“Get away from her! Now!” sasuke shouted.

The woman frowned. “Why should I do that? This is my daughter!”

“Not anymore it’s not. That’s a monster.”

The woman growled. “This is a little girl! How dare you go off spouting such paranoid nonsense!”

“Mommy?” the little girl’s eyes widened, only Sasuke noticed the glazed look to them. The woman knelt to face the girl, taking her hand.

Sasuke growled a curse. There wasn’t time for this! He turned to the crowd, shoving them back as far as he could to get them away from the danger. There was nothing he could do for the woman, she wasn’t going to listen to him. His focus went to those he could still save.

He formed his susanoo, encasing the entrance to the bunker and the rest of the civilians within. The only ones not contained were the woman and the little girl.

Sasuke watched the two interact with a frown, entirely aware how he looked. The picture the two posed painted the picture of a perfect mother-daughter duo. The little girl being comforted by her mother after facing the outright rejection of a shinobi and the refugees. He could already hear the discontent brewing behind him.

He would not be fooled. The susanoo stayed.

The little girl frowned, stretched impossibly low on the little girl’s face. The unsettling picture made unease pool into the atmosphere around them. The muscles in the girls hands clenched, and sasuke saw sweat start to appear on the woman’s brow, her smile turning strained.

“Sweetie, can let go of momma’s hand?” the woman's voice trembled.

The little girl’s attention didn’t waver from staring at Sasuke, even as her shadow deepened.

“Honey, let go of mommy’s hand, you’re hurting momma.” the woman cried out.

Sasuke heard a crunch, and the woman started screaming. Her scream turned from pain to fear as the little girl’s form stretched and tore, black tentacles bursting out from the dead skin and raising up and up. Finally, the rest of the monster emerged, and what had become of Naruto stood just feet in front of Sasuke, the woman’s hand still clutched tightly in a tentacle.  
The woman continued to scream and plead, scrambling for purchase in an attempt to escape. Naruto’s attention switched from him to the woman.

There was a meaty stretching sound, then a brief rip, and then blood splattered the ground in front of his susanoo. There was shocked silence.

Sasuke grimaced. 

Without turning, he addressed Sakura. “Get the Hokage. Tell her to evacuate the base through the back entrance. Tell her the sage mode thing still works.”

Sakura nodded, ordering the civilians inside and the shinobi to follow them. At her prompting, the refugees broke into horrified screaming, moving as fast as they dared inside the base. He paid them little attention.

Instead, he watched as the beast outside his Susanoo walked up to the other side, pressing a tentacle gingerly to the mostly transparent surface. It held it there for several moments, staring straight at him.

Sasuke ignored the second head above Naruto’s, even as it eyed him down. No, he focused on Naruto’s real face. Her expression was fixed on neutral, almost relaxed, and though her eyes were open, they were vacant. If it weren’t for the open eyes, Sasuke would have thought her asleep.

His eyes roved over the rest of Naruto’s form, taking in her battered body and exposed skin. Despite her clothes being little more than rags, her skin was wrapped in a thin coating of Zetsu’s creation, looking like a second, greyer skin. What parts of her were still exposed were sickly pale, as though the elements were wearing away at her health. Her hair was loose, though matted and tangled. 

He hated seeing her like this.

Zetsu’s monster seemed to get restless, pulling away from the surface of his susanoo and subsequently pulling naruto away from him. He frowned as he watched the monster start walking away, before cursing as he noticed where it was trying to go. 

He turned, making sure the refugees were all inside and the doors closed. Only then did he drop his susanoo.

He threw shuriken at zetsu’s monster, getting it’s attention back on him.

“I’m your opponent.” he frowned.

He heard steps behind him. “I believe he means we’re.”

He turned to discover Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin still behind him, he nodded to them, turning his attention back on the beast in front of him.

The monster growled low and deep.

Sasuke didn’t allow it the first shot, launching himself at it. He drew his sword, lighting it with the black flames of amaterasu. As he passed the monster, he slew of a tentacle that went to reach for him, severing the limb and watching as both sides of the severed piece lit up in black flame. The beast screeched, throwing a tentacle in an effort to hit him.

He switched places with a boulder, which turned to mush as the tentacle pulverized it.

“Jugo! Suigetsu!” he yelled.

“On it!” Suigetsu yelled out. “Jugo!”

“Right.” Jugo nodded. He grabbed the swordsman and threw him, shifting his other arm into a cannon. He lifted it, the cannon glowin with charged chakra.

Meanwhile, Suigetsu flew at Zetsu’s monster, throwing his weight into spinning his sword at the monster’s head. The monster blocked it with a tentacle, the sword digging deep into it’s skin but not cutting through as the tentacle reinforced itself.

The monster aimed a spinning blue ball at his head, and suigetsu turned to water to avoid taking damage. Jugo’s lazer went off, slamming hard into the side of the monster and letting off an explosion of flame and dust.

Suigestu reformed himself several feet away, staring at the blast site. “Did we get her?”

Dozens of tentacles burst out of the ground around them, trying their best to pierce or bludgeon or smack any of them. Suigetsu turned to water, nearly avoiding being pierced. Karin jumped out of the way, while Jugo tanked the smacks with a shield arm.

Sasuke sliced the first few tentacles, before jumping out of the maze of tentacles trying to entrap him.

The four regrouped, watching as the smoke cleared to reveal Zetsu’s monster, tentacles quivering in anger.

“Great, all we did was piss it off.” suigetsu muttered.

“Focus!” Sasuke snapped. He withdrew several kunai with explosive tags, throwing them straight at the beast. He performed a few hand signs, tripling the amount of kunai flying at the monster.

The monster slapped the explosions away, and sasuke threw himself forward once more, flaming blade slicing through more and more tentacles.

Chains flew through the air, batting away tentacles before they could become nusciences on the way to his goal, and Sasuke sent a mental nod of thanks to Karin, before disappearing with the use of his rinnegan.

He appeared next to the monster’s top head, sword already in motion to slice off the head of the beast. He could feel the beast’s surprise, even as his sword raced to the beasts head.

He felt his body jolt to a stop, the heavy presence of what felt like natural chakra holding him in place midair, he winced at the uncomfortable position.

“Sasuke!” karin yelled, chains flying towards him and the threat to his life he could not currently see.

He heard the chains wrap around and behind him, forming a shield. There was a heavy impact, and though he was spared injury, he was still flung away as the chains burst from the attack. He flew away, righting himself midair and landing on his feet.

“What was that?!” Suigetsu gaped.  
Sasuke grimaced. “A new technique… it’s learning.” 

He studied the creature. It was drooping, so it stood to reason the technique it had just pulled off had a high chakra requirement. Thinking back, Naruto always got tired after sage mode deactivated, even if she was still full of her own chakra. Even if she could continue fighting after.

That was good for them at least. That meant that the beast was still confined to the same rules of sage mode as Naruto was. It couldn’t take too much, nor did it have unlimited amounts. 

Juugo stepped up next to him, a silent request of his health. He nodded, setting the gentle giant at ease.

They all faced the monster together.

“Looks like this could take a while.” Suigetsu grumbled.

“It’s not like we have anything better to do.” Karin grumbled. Suigetsu grinned.

“What? Do you have a date you’d rather be at?”

Karin growled. “I’d rather be doing anything but facing a deadly monster hellbent on killing us.”

Sasuke shook his head at their antics. Fighting for their lives and still arguing. He clutched his arm, drawing lightning into his hand and bursting forward.

The lighting sliced through a few tentacles, and the monster growled with pain. Wind started rotating around its body, and Sasuke was quick to jump back.

Wind whipped around the creature like naruto’s rasenshuriken, and sasuke watched as a tree was diced to pieces. Best not be caught up in that then.

A tentacle unexpectedly burst up from the ground underneath them, and they all scattered. Karin wasn’t fast enough, her foot trapped in the tentacle's grasp. It hurled her aside, making her smash through a tree..

“Karin!” jugo shouted, before growling. His skin darkened immediately as his body started taking in too much chakra. “You bastard!” he burst forward, launching himself with chakra cannons from his back. His arm shifted into a large bludgeon, which he used to smash into the monster.

Most of the damage was absorbed by one of it’s tentacles, though the monster was still pushed backwards. Untamed chakra formed in front of it, before cutting straight down onto Juugo and launching him back.

The tank he was, Juugo, was mostly unharmed, though he was launched backwards as well. He landed harshly next to Karin. Suigetsu growled, standing protectively in front of them.

Sasuke would have rushed the beast, but he saw something forming in it’s mouth, the stabilizing swirling energy greying until it turned black. His blood went cold.

Sasuke switched himself for a rock in front of Suigetsu, Susanoo rapidly forming around the four of them. “Get down!”

No sooner did they drop to the ground did the modified bijuudama go off, erupting the world outside the susanoo in fire. He could feel the construct splintering around them.

The seconds were over both too fast and much too slow. Time seemed to switch back and forth in random patters, some seconds ticking by like a racing shinobi or crawling so slow a turtle would far outstrip it’s pace. The heat seeped through the ground beneath them, making the atmosphere around them uncomfortably warm. Through all this, their ears were assaulted with the loudest rumbling he’d ever heard in his life, the ground shaking at the same tempo as the fire and sound around them.

Finally, the fire and smoke faded, and the susanoo dropped around them. Sasuke was already at his feet, sword drawn in preparation to defend himself and his team as they stood. All too soon, Juugo rushed the smoke and into the attacking monster, releasing devastating punches powered by thrusting chakra cannons.

Zetsu’s monster flew back, breaking through the rocks and carcasses of trees that had been thrown around in the previous explosion.

“Juugo, you’re going too far! Come back!” Sasuke called, even as he rushed forward.

“I’ll kill ya! Hahahaha!” the rage induced man shouted, arms thickening with armor. He continued laying into the beast, enhancing his attacks with boosts of chakra. The beast seemed unable to retaliate.

Sasuke grunted in annoyance, ready to rush juugo to get him to calm down.

Tentacles sprouted in his path, blocking his way and caging the others in as well. Sasuke cursed as he realized what was happening.

Zetsu’s monster was allowing Juugo’s rage induced beating to push them away from his team, keeping the others in place. Dread pooled in Sasuke’s stomach.

“JUUGO!” Sasuke snapped.

Juugo snapped out of his rage for a second, turning to look at Sasuke.

He had to watch as a tentacle pierced Juugo’s stomach, shocking all of them.

“Juugo!” suigetsu and Karin shouted. Sasuke cursed, jumping through, around, and above the tentacles. No matter how many he dodged, sliced, or otherwise destroyed, more kept getting in his way. Even his susanoo form was blocked from going forward.

From his position, sasuke could see juugo look down to his stomach in confusion, before his famous rage took over once more. He moved to attack, only for more and more tentacles to start holding the man down. It wasn’t long until every part of the man’s body except his head was covered. The man was lit up in a blue sheen of chakra, being sucked of his own chakra. Sasuke started cutting his way through faster, unleashing large area of attacks in an effort to get to the man faster.

Each tentacle became harder to cut through than the last, until Sasuke didn’t even bother attacking and just moving through. Each time he tried to switch with something, the damn monster would move to block sasuke’s vision of Juugo with something, then it would proceed to entrap him into a new cage of tentacles.

All too soon juugo stopped struggling, and the monster dropped the man’s dried up corpse at her feet. Sasuke yelled, finally breaking through to attack Zetsu’s abomination with zeal.

Her skin was much tougher to attack this time, and the part of sasuke not consumed by rage dimly noted that was probably an effect of consuming juugo’s essence. The part consumed by rage and grief just kept swinging harder.

He felt the abomination’s presence swell with new chakra, before the previous choking feeling of being stopped in his place by pure chakra spread over his body once again. His eyes widened, and the pit in his stomach opened up into a chasm. Juugo had the ability to freely absorb nature chakra. Pair that with Naruto's ability to actually use that natural chakra, and this abominates creativity when using both of those abilities, and sasuke shivered to think how this war might turn.

“Sasuke!” Karin’s chains rushed to protect his from being impaled once more.

She didn’t really need to worry. His susanoo formed around his body, nocking the tentacles away from him. The beast growled.

There was a flash of green, then the beast was launched away from the crater they stood in, dragging a large trench in the direction it sailed to. Sasuke felt the chakra around him release, and he stumped to his feet.

Tsunade stood before him, shaking her hand in pained surprise. She frowned, turning to Sasuke. “Everyone’s been evacuated. Time for retreat brat.”

Sasuke just nodded. 

_______________________________________________________________________

Tsunade glanced at the body of the orange haired brat attached to the uchiha’s new team, frowning at the dried skin. “We won’t be able to hide anymore.”

The Uchiha brat shook his head. “No, we can’t.” he agreed.

“Well then. If we can’t hide, then the only option we have is to fight… before she gets too powerful for us to beat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's a wrap!
> 
> now, at the beginning of the chapter I mentioned there was a bunch of things I need to update you all on. nothing drastic, just some things that'll affect my writing time.
> 
> first: I'm no longer in school considering the lockdown. while online school is an option, the reason I started going to school in the first place was to make connections. something I can't really do sitting at home on my computer. why waste the money when I can learn everything they offer for free at home on my computer, where I'll be anyway? so I'll still be doing all that learning, just won't be paying a bunch of people an absurd amount of money.
> 
> second: as an effect of me no longer going to school, I am no longer receiving financial aide. luckily, I'm living with my sister and brother in law, and they're awesome enough to be super understanding about it all. that said, it would still be nice for me to be earning money. as a way to do this without getting a super crappy job (and also because my brothers are already doing it), I've started a game streaming channel. not super popular or successful now, but with time I should be able to eventually earn some sort of wage from it. If any of you are interested in watching me, My facebook page is Swordood Gaming.
> 
> lastly: In regards to the reason I was going to school in the first place, I'm trying to get into a game development career. since I'm learning on my own now, I've decided to put a deadline on myself. by May, no matter how bad quality the game is, I want something developed by May. in order to do that, I have to make sure my art's up to par, learn how to use certain programs, write the story and actually develop it. which means i'll be spending lots of time just drawing or coding or some such stuff until may. now, as long as I'm not too lazy, I should still get something written and posted every other week at the latest, but I won't know for sure until I actually get the schedule seered into by brain.
> 
> anyway, those are just the updates that help explain why it took me so long to get something posted on here. the next story I'll be updating should be Naruto Evergarden, while I might also do some of my more minor stories either after or between. just as long as they don't prevent me from writhing Evergarden.
> 
> until next time all!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter of this new story!
> 
> If you haven’t already guessed, Naruto will be Jenova for this story. How cool is that? Or is it weird. I don’t really know. I come up with a lot of crap.
> 
> This story was really made to celebrate the Final Fantasy 7 remake release. It took me a while to write this, mostly cuz i’m focusing on my other story, as well as school and whatnot.
> 
> I plan on having the next chapter be about She’s breakout, and the journey from Naruto's planet to Midgar. Probably won’t be a very long chapter, but it’ll be important.
> 
> Anyway. Have a good day, stay healthy, and all that good jazz. 
> 
> Bye bye


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